Dying to Live
by Nobody13Xlll
Summary: Percy and Luke have one chance at redemption; save seven demigods, fight their tormentors, defeat Kronos, and save Olympus. Not only must they compete with bloodthirsty monsters, powerful adversaries, and deal with dark pasts and closets full of skeletons, but in the end, they must compete against each other. Only one demigod can be redeemed. Only one fallen hero can rise again.
1. The Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer-I don't own the Percy Jackson series, but I really, really want to!**

**Extended Summary-**Percy and Luke have one chance at redemption; save seven demigods, fight their tormentors, defeat Kronos, and save Olympus. Not only must they compete with bloodthirsty monsters, powerful adversaries, and deal with dark pasts and closets full of skeletons, but in the end, they must compete against each other. Only one demigod can be redeemed. Only one fallen hero can rise again. And both willing to do anything for their one last chance, both are willing to die again to get one last chance to live.

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**The Beginning of the End**

Nico POV

6 years ago…

Rain was pouring down on the roof, the constant pounding seeming to drown out everything else. Curfew had begun hours ago, and the room was full of other boys, all sprawled on their beds in various positions, all sound asleep.

But not me. I couldn't stop the excitement that was bubbling up inside me. I kept checking glancing at the clock on the wall, peering through the darkness watching as the minutes ticked by. Eleven o'clock ticked by. Midnight ticked by. Tick-tock, tock-tick. Two minutes to one. I shivered in anticipation. I really couldn't help it. Life here at Westover Hall Orphanage was really, really, stupendously, undeniably, boring.

Nothing fun ever happened. All there was to do was work, study, and try to look adorable when possible parents came by. But all that had changed yesterday. My sister, Bianca, and I had been eating lunch when Ms. Gottschalk, the orphanage director, had come over with a new 'teacher'. That was when our world got turned upside down. Our new teacher, introducing himself as Ferdinand, had walked up and smiled at us, telling us that he had reviewed our case files, and was looking forward to looking at us.

All we could do was stare at his feet. Or, what should have been his feet. He had hooves! More than that, he had goat legs and two large horns! Ms. Gottschalk didn't even blink twice at them, she didn't even seem to notice. Ferdinand must have known that we had noticed though, because he had just winked at us before saying that he would see us in class.

The moment they had gone, Bianca and I argued, trying to figure out what we had seen, before asking around about the new teacher. No one else seemed to have seen that he was anything less than human. Bianca and I had later eased into the back of his class, watching him closely the entire time.

Nothing else had happened. The goat dude had just taught the lesson, told a few corny jokes, and then went on to say that we didn't have any homework. The class had cheered at the end of the period, before charging out, ready for the end of the day. We just stood at the back of the class, watching Ferdinand. And then he came over to us, and laid it all on the table.

He had told us that we were demigods, that we were the children of the gods, and that we were incredibly special and that we were destined for greatness. He told us how he was a satyr, sent out from Olympus to find demigods, keep them safe, and bring them home. And then he had asked us if we were ready to leave this place.

Bianca had taken a little convincing. For being the brains of the family the majority of the time, my big sis was a tad slow on the uptake. Eventually though, Ferdinand had won her over, and now, in just two minutes, we would be out of here, and out there, for a life of adventure, a practical paradise. Monsters, magic, swords, gods, danger?

I couldn't stop a grin from spreading across my face. This was so awesome! One minute to go. I was still dressed under the covers, shoes on and everything, my bag already packed and acting as a really uncomfortable pillow. At one o'clock, I would grab my stuff, tiptoe out of the room, and sneak into the main hall, where my sister and Ferdinand would meet me. After that, we would slip out the staff exit and out into the parking lot to Ferdinand's car, and drive away, drive until this place was just a bad memory.

Five, four, three, two, one, time! I carefully pushed my blanket off and grabbed my bag, sliding off the edge of the bed and slowly standing up. The room was suddenly illuminated in a blue flash of light, lightning clawing across the stormy sky for a split second before vanishing and plunging the room back into darkness.

I took a few cautious steps, sneaking past several snoring boys and ducking beside the bunk beds, and was took a final step to reach the door. The loudest creak I had ever heard erupted from under my foot, and I froze, heart leaping into my throat. The boy closest to the door, Trevor, snorted in his sleep, turning over, before relaxing, breathing becoming steady again.

I waited for a long, quiet minute, before easing my foot off the board it was on and gently prying open the door, dodging out into the hallway and silently pulling it closed. I ran as quietly as I could down the hall, passing dark suits of armor, trying to see through the darkness. The orphanage had been an old castle before it had been converted, the only main sources of light being old torches and slit windows.

Electricity was a hard to come by commodity that really only went into the classrooms, kitchen, cafeteria, auditorium, and the staffs room. We orphans had only just got lights in our own dorms less than a month ago, and even that couldn't really help at night.

I ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time, before skipping the last few steps and skidding to a halt in the main hall. I glanced around, trying to remember where exactly I was supposed to meet up with Bianca and Ferdinand. A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I screamed, only for another hand to cover my mouth. I struggled for a second before a familiar voice said "Neeks, it's us you idiot!"

I stopped struggling, rolling my eyes and pulling myself free of my sister.

"I'm not an idiot." I muttered, glaring at her. Bianca was opening her mouth to retort when Ferdinand interjected, taking a hold of our shoulders and letting out a chuckle.

"Come on kiddos, we got work to do. There'll be plenty of time for bickering on the road, capiche?" Bianca scowled and I stuck out my tongue, before Ferdinand gently started propelling us towards the back of the hall. "Did you to get all of your possessions? Anything you want to keep?" We nodded and Ferdinand went on. "Good. I've got snacks in the car, and you two can sleep if you want. It will take a while to get to New York, and a little longer to get to Long Island. For the sake of safety, we'll be making as few stops as possible, so I hope you don't have to use the bathroom."

Bianca was starting to look worried again, but nonetheless allowed herself to be propelled to the door at the end of the hall marked 'Staff'. Ferdinand took out a ring of keys and unlocked the door, before pushing it open and ushering us inside. The hall inside was brightly illuminated, lights shining down on portraits of former owners, instructors, and children who had been adopted. We trotted down the hall, getting closer and closer to sweet freedom, turning down corridors, before taking a left turn. Straight ahead of us were the kitchens, and after that would be a stairway leading to the parking lot. We all froze as we heard the sound of a door handle turning.

A door to our left opened out, the door blocking us from view as someone stepped out. Ferdinand quickly pulled us back and motioned for us to run. Bianca and I took off, Ferdinand right behind us. The unknown person turned the corner just as we turned another one.

"Who's there?" Ms. Gottschalk inquired, quickly coming after us. Ferdinand ushered us on, motioning for us to go faster. We broke into a sprint, hearing Gottschalk shouting after us, something about deviant hoodlums, punishments, and peanut butter.

We skidded to a halt back at the exit into the main hall, and filed through as Ferdinand grabbed a knife from one of the suits of armor and slammed the door, before wedging it firmly in-between the door and the frame and giving it a twist. "That should give us a few minutes. I didn't want to make a big show out of getting you away from here, but I guess we'll just have to deal with it. Come on, we'll just use the main entrance." Bianca and I broke into laughter as we heard Gottschalk collide with the door and start ordering us to open it this instant. We were still laughing when we collided with Ferdinand, who was standing stalk still, wide eyed, pale, and sniffing the air intently.

"What's wrong?" Bianca's face instantly lost its glow, the usual worry and anxiety returning at the prospect of oncoming doom. "Not good. Not good at all. I didn't think they'd catch up so quickly… Kids we have to go-"Ferdinand was cut off as something huge roared in the distance. The sound literally shook the building, and the lights flickered for a few seconds.

More sounds started erupting from outside, screams, screeches, battle cries, and the sound of metal being banged on metal. We all started slowly backing away as things started banging on the main doors, eyes wide, before suddenly all the noise quieted. Light started to flood through the door, moving through the cracks and in-between the frame, before the large wooden door started to burn.

"Now would be a good time to run." We turned and ran. Ferdinand led the way back to the staff door, ripping out the knife and throwing it wide. Gottschalk charged out, eyes filled with rage, but the satyr just pushed her to the side, ushering us past and ordering us to run as fast as we could. The door had just closed when there was an explosion from the main hall, and Gottschalk screamed in terror. Bianca yelped, eyes wide, fear in her eyes. I grabbed her hand, all the excitement gone.

The beginning of my adventure wasn't working out the way it was supposed to. The staff were exiting their rooms, rubbing the tiredness out of their eyes, confused and grumbling as we pushed past. We managed to get to the kitchen this time, and were at the back door when something another roar erupted from the other side. Silver claws the size of butcher knives ripped through the door and pulled it off its hinges, as the biggest lion I had ever seen stuck its head through, glittering gold fur shining in the light, gleaming teeth sparkling as it snapped at us.

"Never mind, wrong door!" Ferdinand shouted. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a jar of some strange liquid before hurling it at the beast and pulling us away. The huge lion pulled away as the jar soared by harmlessly, before charging in, smashing the wall the splinters. The room around it crumbled, tables tuning into tinder, pots and pans falling of hooks, plumbing bursting as the beast crashed around. Bianca screamed grabbing a frying pan off the floor and moving between the beast and I, while Ferdinand pulled another out another jar.

The beast roared, crouching to pounce, but our satyr moved faster, chucking the jar straight into the monsters wide open mouth. The lion swallowed, before giving out one of the largest belches I had ever hear. There was a crunching side form inside it, and suddenly the beast started howling. Green fire erupted from its mouth, smoke pouring out its nose and eyes.

Ferdinand let out a triumphant cheer, only to be cut off as the creature, blinded by smoke and chocking of flames, charged forward. Bianca and Ferdinand jumped back out of the kitchen into the hall, and the beast smashed through the doorframe and wall, and kept going, before colliding with the other wall, and stumbling out of sight.

There was a horrific groaning from overhead, and the next thing I knew the roof was coming down. The large black stone that made up the building crumpled in the hallway, blocking the kitchen off from the rest of the building. "Nico!" Bianca's muffled voice sounded on the verge of tears. I heard scuffling on the other side, and stumbled over, clawing at the rocks. "Nico are you ok?" I managed to nod mutely, before remembering that they couldn't see me.

"Yeah, I'm ok!" "Alright Nico, just hang on, we'll come and get you, don't move!" Ferdinand said something that I couldn't hear to Bianca and she shouted through the rubble "I'll be right back Nico I promise! Stay safe!"

And then there was silence. I shivered in the cold night air, the storm still raging on through the large hole in the wall. I could still hear the sounds of monsters out there, waiting to attack, searching for food. This was not how it was supposed to be. Lightning flashed again and I let out an unintentional whimper. This was just a dream right? This couldn't be real. Could it?

This nightmare couldn't be happening. Another screech came from the darkness, and I instinctively snatched one of the forgotten knives of the kitchen floor. I stalked forward, light flickering above me, and made my way to the hole, before peering out. There didn't seem to be anything out there, at least that I could see.

The darkness seemed to consume everything, save for a few lights the faculty had installed outside the building. The parking lot was below us, a muddy, boulder filled slope leading down into the darkness, the stairs illuminated by lamps. To the east, you could just see the cliff edge in the distance, and hear the sound of the sea crashing against the stone.

Maybe the monsters were only attacking the front of the building. I could sneak down there and find out, then run back up here. There was no way Bianca and Ferdinand would make it all the way to one of the side doors and back here before I could go down and back up. Besides, it would help us find out what we were dealing with.

I stepped outside, shivering as the rain pelted me, the knife shaking in my hand. What would I do if another one of those things attacked? I didn't have of the satyr's jars full of fire, all I had was a short knife. But I had to be brave, I had to help out. I took another teetering step forward, and suddenly the world tilted. I slipped through the muddy ground, only to go careening down the hill.

I rolled and flipped, scraping up against rocks, boulders, and dried up dead plants, before finally slowing down at the bottom of the hill. I groaned in pain, wincing as I forced myself up. My knife was lost somewhere back in the muck, but at least I was at the bottom of the hill. Always look on the bright side right?

I started to stand up when I heard a deep chuckle behind me. I froze, heart beating a thousand miles a minute as I slowly turned around. I wish I hadn't. Another monster, more terrifying than the last was standing there, smiling at me with a human smile. Two different colored eyes stared down at me while a normal human face smiled on.

The smile was scary enough, but it was the fact that it was attached to some kind of gorilla lion mix with a scorpion tale booted it up to heart stopping. A manticore. I scrambled back, and the monster chuckled, before taking a few leisurely steps forward, smiling cruelly.

"Well what do we have here? A little snack, all alone and hurt? Why, it's almost too much to ask for. I do hope you taste better than you look, my little morsel." I let out another whimper, slipping and falling, before scrambling back, trying to get away. I tried to scream, tried to shout, but nothing seemed to come out, and I was forced to stop backtracking as my back ran into solid stone. I had nowhere to go. The manticore chuckled, scorpion tail rising over its head, multiple spikes protruding from the insectoid appendage.

"Don't…" I managed to whisper. Seriously? "Don't" was going to be my last words? I really was pathetic wasn't I? The scorpion tail reared back, I was beginning to hyperventilate, oh my gods I was about to die, I wanted my sister back, I was going to get eaten, I wanted to be back in bed, I was cold, wet, I was going to die-

"Thorn." A quiet, disapproving voice cut through the storm, the low note somehow audible over everything else. The manticore, Thorn, growled, turning back to face the newcomer.

The closest light revealed them to be a tall, lanky boy, wearing black jeans and a blue and black jacket, bronzed skin looking strange in the tinted light. A ballpoint pen was being flipped between his fingers as he observed the scene, sharp sea green eyes glaring into Thorn's eyes without a shred of fear. His ebony hair flipped around in the storms rage, but after a few seconds I realized that even though we were in the middle of a storm, the boy was bone dry. "What, an innocent monster can't have a little snack? Honestly Perseus I would have expected more understanding from someone so familiar with being a monster."

Perseus glared back at Thorn silently for a few seconds, and I gulped, knowing I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that stare. Even the manticore seemed a little anxious, taking a careful step away, before pacing back and forth in front of me, tail flicking back and forth.

"Leave him alone Thorn. He's an innocent."

Thorn growled angrily, wet hair standing up and tail shaking in protest. "Innocent? There is no such thing. You know this as well as I do. You think yourself a hero? I know who you are Perseus, and I've seen what you're done. Why don't you crawl on back to Olympus and let me have our fun?" Olympus?

Hero? That must mean that he was on my side! Perseus flipped the pen back into the palm of his hand, and suddenly he was holding a glowing bronze blade. Thorn recoiled, raising his haunches and arching his tail back. "You dare to threaten me?" He growled. I barley heard him. All I could do was stare at Perseus. He had looked like a hero before, like someone who could make anything better, but now… Now with his sword out and that defiant look on his face he looked like a god. Maybe he was one.

"It's not a threat, Thorn; it's a death sentence." The fight happened almost too fast for me to comprehend. Thorn raged and pounced forward, claws out, tail snapping, fangs dripping, a furry blur speeding towards my hero. But Perseus was faster. I almost couldn't see the movement, it looked as though he simply teleported, one second standing right in front of the pouncing monster, the next he was off to the side, his sword plunged into its neck. Thorn's own momentum kept him going, and the sword continued to rip through him.

The monsters body kept going, falling to the ground, only to explode in a flash of golden dust before it could reach it. All in less than three seconds flat. I was still trying to comprehend what had happened as Perseus' sword turned back into a pen, still lost on how I had gotten all the way from point a to point oh my gosh what the heck just happened.

My attention snapped back to reality as Perseus walked over, and I stopped breathing for a few seconds as he kneeled down, green eyes studying me curiously. "You ok kid?" I managed a mute nod, staring wide eyed up at my hero. The pure awesomeness of what the older boy had done finally caught up to me, and my mouth started working again.

"Whoa! You're totally epic!" The boy smirked, the corner of his mouth tilting up, eyes gleaming. "I guess that's a yes. What're you doing down here?" "I got attacked by this giant lion thing, and it cut me off from the main hall, and then I came out here to see if there was anything else, and I kinda slipped." I blushed in embarrassment, looking towards the ground.

"Giant lion? Oh yeah, I thought I saw the Nemean around earlier. So you can see my world. I'm gonna make a wild guess and say you're a demigod."

I nodded proudly, smiling brightly again and tried to stand back up. I winced in pain as I felt something in my chest pinch, and tried to sit back down. "Actually, I think I hurt myself." Perseus nodded and reached inside of his black jacket, pulling out a package and snapping out a small cube.

"Here, its ambrosia, you'll love it." I tentatively put it to my lips and took a bite. It was like every delicious thing I had ever eaten and even things I hadn't. Chocolate cake, cinnamon, vanilla, pasta, and behind it all a perfect twinge of pomegranate. I eagerly finished off the cube, relishing in the warm rush that spread through me. "What's your name?"

"Nico." Perseus grinned and stood up, offering me a hand. I gladly took it, somehow unsurprised when I realized that the pain in my chest was gone. "Well Nico, why don't we get you out of here?" I started to nod enthusiastically, before shaking my head saying "What about Bianca?" Perseus gave me a confused look, before I clarified.

"She's my sister, she's like me." Perseus bit his bottom lip, glancing back up at the orphanage, before looking back to me.

"Let me guess, still up there?"

"Yep." My hero let out a sigh, running a hand through his messy hair, before looking back to me. "Well then, looks like it's time to go to work. Think you're up for a rescue mission Nico?"

"Yeah!" I shouted excitedly. Perseus smiled, before turning back to the orphanage and heading for the steps. I rushed after him, excitedly hopping from step to step to keep up with him. Now this was more like it! When Perseus got to the top, he glanced around carefully, listening to the eerily silent night. "I thought there were more monsters. I guess they left." I whispered, sticking close.

"They're still here." Was all Perseus said, before making his way through the hole in the wall to the kitchen. "We can't go through here, the lion broke the ceiling." Perseus turned back around, cocky grin in place, still heading for the pile of rubble that separated us from the hallway.

"Rule number one of being a demigod Nico; anything and everything is possible." He turned back around, studying the rubble for a split second, before glancing back at me. "How wet are you?" I stared back at him in confusion, before glancing down at myself. I was drenched, and cold. My usually pale skin was even paler than usual, and my clothes was clinging to me. How wasn't I shivering or turning blue? "Yeah?" "Good." Perseus grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the wall.

"Now this might be a little disorienting, so just try and close your eyes and hold on, alright?"

I nodded and squeezed my eyes shut, tightly gripping my heroes hand. Perseus pulled us forward, and the strangest feeling passed through me, like everything solid inside me had suddenly been liquefied. I wanted to scream, to get away from the feeling, but I couldn't move, I was only being pulled on by the older boy. And then it was over. I let go of Perseus' hand and fell to my knees retching. I was torn between being sick and screaming about how incredible that had been. I turned my head back, and stared at the blocked off entrance to the kitchen. He had gotten us through.

"How did you…?" I asked, looking up with wide excited eyes.

The sick feeling was fading fast, overwhelmed by the feeling of being close to my hero. Perseus just gave me a wink and helped me back to my feet. "I'll tell ya later. Come on, we need to get your sister out of here." We ran back out, out footsteps somehow silent despite our rapid pace. But then again, everything was quiet now. No shouts from angry adults, no scared screams, no cries for help, nothing.

"Why is it so quiet?" Perseus just shrugged, glancing around a corner "Because they're hunting." "What for?" Perseus suddenly slammed his arm against me, slamming me into the wall. I let out a startled protest, but at the look on his face I instantly quieted.

He glanced back around the corner, and I managed to get around his arm and survey the scene. Up ahead, a scaled monster with snake tails for legs was approaching a cornered Bianca. She was backing up desperately, a knife that seemed to be made of the same material as my hero's sword in her hand, shakily pointed straight at the new freak. Ferdinand was nowhere in sight, but a very large flower covered in golden dust had spontaneously erupted from the ground behind the monster.

"S-s-stay back!" Bianca warned, trying to seem threatening. The monster hissed, and Perseus walked out into the hall, silently stalking up behind it. Bianca's eyes widened as she watched him slip behind it, carefully stepping over the tail legs, before reaching up and grabbing the sides of the freaks head. The monster had a split second to let out a panicked screech before Perseus violently twisted its head to the left. There was a loud cracking noise, and the monster fell limp for a second, before disintegrating into gold dust.

"Epic!" I said, running out to Perseus. Perseus gave me a high five before turning to Bianca.

"Miss Di Angelo I presume?" Bianca nodded, still tightly gripping the knife.

"This is Perseus, he's my hero. Bianca, he's awesome! He's a demigod too! He saved me from a manticore, and he did something cool to the wall that let us get through, and did you hear that thing snap! He's amazing!" Bianca pulled me close, still looking warily at Perseus. "Hey Bianca, where's Ferdinand?" Bianca glanced back down to the flower at Perseus' feet, before saying "Dead."

We all stood silent for a few seconds, before the house shook again. "We really need to get you two out of here now. Come on, follow me." Perseus led us back the way we had come, coming to the rubble. I proudly put my hand in his and smiled encouragingly at Bianca who did the same. Percy gave Bianca a quick warning, telling her it would be disorienting, especially since we didn't have time to get her wet, and pulled us forward.

This time I kept my eyes open. It had been disorienting before, but it was nothing to this. I watched as Perseus pushed us _into_ the wall, watched as we seemed to flow like water through the rubble, trickling through cracks and crevices. The liquefied feeling returned, and I felt like my head was in five different places, the information overload sending my adventure level to a whole new high.

I still stumbled a little after we came out of the other side, grabbing my legs and leaning over to steady myself, but I smiled in triumph at the fact that I didn't fall down. Bianca was reacting the same way I had, falling to her knees and holding her head between her knees. She looked sick, like she was going to throw up.

Perseus patted her back and whispered something to her, and she let out a giggle, before allowing him to take her hand and pull her up. A twinge of jealousy came through as I watched them. He was my hero, and big sister or not, she should get her own. He was mine. I smiled at the thought. How many other ten year olds could claim to have a kick-butt, sword wielding, super powered, demigod hero as their new best friends? "I should be able to get you to the edge of the woods beyond the parking lot, but after that I'm afraid you'll be on your own for a while.

I might be able to catch up with you, but I don't know. Do you both know where Trenton is?" Bianca nodded and Perseus turned back to the hole in the wall. "If you head straight through the woods, you'll reach highway 3. Go right and follow it, and you'll eventually reach the bridge heading to Trenton. Once your there, head to the recycling plant and ask for Grover; he's an old friend of mine and a satyr, he can help you. Here." Perseus reached into his jacket pocket, and produced a few granola bars.

"These'll help get you going. You might want to hang on to that knife of yours too. I'm really sorry I can't help more. Now come on." Perseus led us out of the hole, and down to the stairs. I felt embarrassed when Perseus carefully pushed me away from the edge, a reminder that he had probably witnessed my fail earlier.

We got to the bottom of the stairs, and were almost too a few cars parked closer to the woods, when a booming voice broke the eerie night silence. Words of a language my brain knew but my ears didn't flew through the air, before everything was silent once again. Perseus slowed to a halt, before finally coming to a total stop.

"I have to go back now." He said after a few moments of silence. "But I thought you'd get us to the woods!" Bianca and I protested. Perseus shook his head. "I have to go back." Bianca pursed her lips indignantly while I looked up at him with wide sad eyes. "You're leaving me?"

Perseus glanced back at me with a shocked look for a few moments, before taking a knee and saying "Just for now. I don't know when I'll be able to check on you two. But I'll find you eventually. I swear it on Styx. Ok Nico?" "Neeks." Perseus gave me a confused look.

"It's what my best friends call me." Perseus gave me a sad smile, before tousling my hair. "You two are going to do alright. Now remember what I told you?" Bianca nodded and Perseus stood back up. A strange hissing filled the air, and Perseus' head snapped back, pen slapping into the palm of his hand. He spun back around to us, calm exterior cracking enough to show worry.

"You need to go, and you need to go now. Whatever you do, promise me that you won't look back? No matter what you hear, whatever you think you hear, no matter what, do not look back. Don't stop until you get to the highway, push yourselves as hard as you can." We tried to ask him what was wrong, what was happening, but he waved away the question.

"Go!" After one last moment of hesitation, we both took off for the woods. I wanted to look back, wanted to see my hero one last time before he was gone for a long time. "Wait, stop!" Perseus' voice broke back through the silence. I actually stopped before Bianca grabbed me and kept pulling me along. "What are you doing, he told us to-"

"He told us to not stop no matter what we heard. Come on Neeks!" We kept running. "Children!" Ms. Gottschalk's scratchy voice crawled after us "Come back here or disciplinary action will be taken against you!" We kept running. "Kids!" Ferdinand called. We kept running. "Bianca, Nico!" Our friends called. We kept running. And explosion went off behind us, the dark landscape was illuminated by flames. We ran harder. "Bia! Nico Di Angelo!" We stopped running. Bianca's voice caught in her throat as she whispered "Mommy?"

"Don't look back! Come on we have to go!"

"My precious Bia, where are you going? Come back home, everything will be alright. Trust me precious, it will be all right." Our mother's voice kept coming, promises of peace and rest calling out to us.

"Bianca come on!" I desperately tugged at my sister's arm, trying to get her to run again.

Our mother's voice was getting closer. A single tear ran down Bianca's ace, before she twisted in my grip and looked back. The next few seconds were stuck in my memory for the rest of my life.

I watched as Bianca looked back, eyes full of hope, looking for a mother who was long gone. I watched as she looked back at the speaker, wet hair whipping around in the storm, eyes shining in the firelight from the explosions. And then I watched as that hope shattered, and a single sob escaped her throat. And then she stopped moving.

Her already cold skin grew even cooler, and turned smooth underneath my fingers. I took a step back, watching in confusion and horror as my sister changed color, her hair no longer whipping in the wind, the strands frozen in place. Another second later, her whole body was a pale grey, and as smooth as glass. My sister had been turned to stone.

"Bianca!" I screamed. I threw my arms around her, trying to shake her, trying to get rid of the stone, trying to shake it away, but it wasn't any use. I could hear screams in the distance, the silence gone now, monsters roaring, children crying, adults pleading for mercy. But I couldn't listen to it, I could only hold onto the statue that had been my sister.

This couldn't be happening. I couldn't be losing my sister. It just couldn't happen. My sister couldn't be gone. This was just a nightmare, an insane, awful nightmare. The hissing grew louder, and clung onto my sister, tears streaming down my face. "Bianca!" I whimpered. There was another insanely loud explosion, and the hissing stopped.

Momentarily forgetting my promise to Perseus, I looked back at the orphanage. A good fifty feet away a tall woman with an afro made up of writhing snakes was staring back at the ruins of Westover Hall. The old castle had collapsed in on itself. Two of the great walls had fallen in, and strange fire burned through everything it came by. A horde of monsters poured out of the destroyed entrance, some taking flight and circling in the sky, others stampeding back out, pooling at the base.

The huge stone wall ahead straight ahead of us was suddenly filled with golden light, and another explosion went off, rocking the sky. Huge pieces of rubble flew through the air, soaring as far as they could before violently coming back to earth. Two figures walked out of the rubble, one of them glowing with that same golden light. It was hard to even look at them, it burned my eyes.

I couldn't tell who it was, what they looked like, or even if it was a boy or a girl. But I knew without a doubt that they were the cause of all this destruction, that they were the cause for my sister's death. And then I looked to the other figure. My world seemed to freeze for a moment, before shattering.

Even across all this distance, I could almost make out Perseus' face as he followed the glowing figure, side by side. Unlike before, he wasn't covered in golden dust, no remainders of the monsters he had killed.

He was wet now, and was painted dark crimson. It covered him from head to toe, and pooled onto his now scarlet bronze sword. I fell back, staring at my hero. No. That was not a hero. I knew without a doubt where that blood had come from. A hero wouldn't do that. A hero wouldn't… Angry tears streamed from my eyes.

Perseus! The glowing figure wasn't to blame here, it was him! The hissing started again, and out of the corner of my eyes I saw the snake woman starting to turn back around. I didn't give her a chance to get me. I was off into the woods in the blink of an eye. I ran and ran, never looking back, while the tears kept coming. Perseus had taken away my sister, he had killed my friends. My _hero_ was going to pay for this. Mark my words, one day I would make him pay.

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**Howdy! Ok, so probably not the best, but I'm pretty excited for this story, so I'm just trying to get it out. I promise I'll try and keep it updated as much as possible. If you notice anything wrong with it, any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, redundancy, or are just bored, a) I was trying to get across a 10 year old point of view (epic fail I know) b) again I kind of rushed it, and c) I also don't have a beta helping me out. Anyways, hope you liked, please read and review, it always gives a good boost of moral for the writer as I'm sure you all know, and try and give this one a chance, I think you'll truly enjoy it! Anyways, hope you enjoy and stick around, have a fantastic summer people! Thanks for the support! P.S. Promise to add better summary next time.**


	2. Perseus Dies in the End

**Disclaimer; I don't own the Percy Jackson series, but I really, really want to!**

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**Perseus Dies in the End**

Present

Location-**Mt. ****Olympus, Throne Room**

"… And other than some minor issues with a few monsters attacking my couriers, my Overnight Express is running spick and span." Hermes concluded. Around the throne room, the other Olympians nodded their heads in approval. Dionysus looked bored out of his mind, reclining on his throne while twirling a glass of chardonnay. Ares kept twitching, fingers tapping impatiently, angry eyes hidden behind dark shades, lips curled in an irritated sneer.

Few of the gods actually cared about these pre solstice meetings, although all were forced to come. There were things that needed to be taken care of before the real winter solstice occurred, reports of the gods dominions needed to be given, entertainment and so much more work was required. "Very good Hermes" Zeus waved his hand, dismissing the messenger god back to his seat "Are there any other issues that are in need of our attention?"

Ares straightened in his chair, glaring daggers over his sunglasses, daring anyone to speak up. The war god especially disliked these meetings. Who needed to plan a party when you already have the goddess of beauty, the god of wine? He was more than ready to head back out into the fray, no doubt headed for some forsaken warzone. After a few seconds of silence, Zeus spoke up again. "In that case, we are adjourned until the solstice. I need not remind you that it is only three weeks away; I expect to see _all_ of you there, or there shall be consequences."

For the first time in the meeting, Poseidon stirred, raising an eyebrow at his brother, silently challenging the threat. Noticing the new attention he was receiving, Zeus clarified.

"There are matters of importance that can only be taken care of at that time, matters that require all of us. Now, as I was saying, we are adjourned for…" Zeus trailed off as the massive gold doors to the throne rooms slid silently open and in strode a lanky girl, out of control, ruby curls bouncing with every step; the Oracle.

The gods shifted in their thrones, glancing between the girl and Zeus. The Oracle finally came to a stop in the center of the throne room, before doing a small courtesy, paint splattered toga shimmering with what looked like gold and glitter.

"Sorry to bother, but I've got some news." She announced, folding her arms and slouching forward.

"And it couldn't wait? You have disrupted a meeting of the gods mortal. What matter of yours could possibly be important enough to disturb us with?" Zeus growled. Poseidon and Hades sat back in there thrones, rolling their eyes.

"And the call me a drama queen." Hades muttered. Apollo cleared his throat looking pointedly at Zeus.

"Father, this _is_ the Oracle remember? She knows not to come in here unless it's important."

"Believe me I remember" Zeus grunted, glaring daggers at the girl. After repeatedly rebuffing his companionship and her overall stubborn, mortal nature, Zeus and the Oracle were not on the best of terms.

Apollo sighed, before flashing a brilliant smile down at the girl. "So Rachel, what's the word?" Rachel was opening her mouth to reply when Apollo chuckled. "You know, I was at this coffee shop this morning, couple babes with me, and they had this poetry corner thing going on, and some guy was making the most fantastic haiku's you have ever heard. Besides mine of course. Anyways, he was doing one on 'the word'; surprisingly good. I think it went like this- "News is" Artemis cut in before anyone could strangle her brother for yet another haiku.

"What news do you bring Miss Dare?"

Rachel straightened herself, and took a deep breath, gauging her audience, before saying "The last few days, I have had several visions. I've tried to collect as much information about it as possible, and now I stand here before you. Gods of Olympus, Kronos is coming back to power."

There was an explosion of noise and Rachel stumbled backwards. The gods screamed and shouted, arguing with each other, jumping off their respective thrones and advancing, the sound steadily growing louder and louder. Athena and Ares hollering in each other's faces, Hera and Aphrodite were slapping the other, Apollo still babbling on to Dionysus, Hermes, and Hephaestus, while Artemis, Hades, and Zeus were all trying to raging on about something.

Poseidon, still relaxed in his chair, sighed, standing up, glowing trident materializing in his hand, before dropping the end into the marble floor. The ground rumbled, the pillars shook, and there was a far off boom of an ocean storm far below. All eyes turned to Poseidon.

"This is a council, not a coliseum. Treat it as such" Poseidon turned back to Zeus "Let the girl speak."

The gods slowly returned to their seats, while Zeus glared at Rachel.

"We are well aware of our fathers return to power, and have been discussing our options. He has attacked out mortal children, swayed the minor gods, killed many, and had at one time gained himself quite an army. But we have already dealt with him for the most part. We crushed his armies, won back our allies, and have protected our children as well as we could. This solstice was to decide whether or not to launch a full out assault on our renegade father. This is not news to us." Rachel shook her head.

"You don't understand. He already has returned to power; or at least as close as he can get to it at the moment. He is readying his forces as we speak. By the solstice, there will be no more Olympians."

The murmurs returned once again, but a singled glare from Zeus and Poseidon quieted the assembly. "Since you seem to have all of the answers then Oracle, what are we to do? Why is our enemy suddenly ready to launch his assault on us, without his forces, without his full power?" Zeus' gruff tone let his impatience slip past. He did not like being corrected, especially when the threat of destruction was involved.

"Your destruction and your father's rise can be avoided. It is time for another Moirai Trial."

The Council went quiet. Hermes sat up, eyes wide, hope shining through.

"A Moirai Trial? We are discussing the fate of Olympus and you suggest a Moirai Trial?" "In his current state, Kronos can only be defeated by a demigod. So yes, I do suggest a Moirai Trial. The fallen will save Olympus. As for why Kronos suddenly decided to man up and attack us… that's complicated. But I do know that it involves demigods. Seven of them to be exact. He's using them already, has been for a while." Another murmur stirred through the gods.

"Attacking us through our children? Not a wise strategy, we have kept tabs on our children, none of them have suddenly vanished or run off as when Kronos first started raising his army." Athena interjected.

Rachel just shook her head again."Like I said, it's complicated. And I'm not the one with the answers. The only one who does know"

"Father" Hermes came to his feet, twitching nervously "Father, might I make a request?" Rachel frowned, crossing her arms at being interrupted, and Zeus studied his son before finally nodding his head.

"Father, I know that you traditionally in the Moirai Trials, Poseidon, Hades, and yourself usually pick out the fallen hero, but I would ask that you give my son his chance. He has spent many years waiting for this chance at redemption, and he has proved his worth time and time again. I know he will not let us down." Zeus let out a grunt, thinking carefully.

"Your son? Luke Castellan?" Hermes nodded. "You wish for me to send the Lightning Thief to defeat Kronos?" Hermes nodded again. Zeus glanced back to his brothers. Hades just shrugged his shoulder, reclining on his throne and toying with the shadows in the room. Poseidon stared down hard at the ground, brooding and silent.

There was little doubt that he wanted to send a different fallen hero, but no one would side with the sea god and his spawn. Zeus turned back to Hermes. "Your son is a great warrior, an experienced fighter, and a dangerous enemy. To have stolen from the gods takes either extreme courage, or an extreme lack of brains. But in the situation, I believe that it might be a good choice. He is the most desirable of the fallen. Your son shall be tried. If he succeeds, Luke Castellan shall be Redeemed, and his crimes against Olympus shall be forgiven. Collect him immediately after we dismiss."

Hermes nodded ecstatically and Zeus turned back to Rachel. "Our champion for the Moirai Trials has been chosen. What other knowledge do we require for this quest? What dangers do we face?" Rachel coughed nervously, eyes flashing around the room trying not to look any of the gods in the face.

"Actually, your _champions_ have been chosen."

Silence.

"What?"

Rachel ran a hand through her frizzy hair, smiling nervously. "For this trial, you were allowed to pick one of your champions. The Moirai themselves already picked the other champion."

"That's impossible, there can only be one champion in a Moirai Trial. There have never been two before." Apollo quieted Hermes, before turning back to the Oracle.

"Maybe you should elaborate." Apollo hinted, glancing around the room. The majority of the gods disliked breaking certain traditions and customs; the Moirai Trials were a tradition that was never changed or corrected. No one wanted to mess with a second chance given by the Fates.

"The Fates allows you to pick a champion for yourselves, any hero you deem worthy of a second chance. They will be instrumental in completing the trial. But the Fate's picked their own champion. Without them, the trial will fail, and Kronos will win. You need their skills, their knowledge, and their power to win." The gods grumbled but apparently accepted it. "

Then we have made our choice. But who have the Fates chosen?"

Every face but Poseidon's looked curiously at her, waiting for a reply. Poseidon stared at the floor, lips moving in what almost looked like a silent prayer. The oracle seemed to shrink under the gaze of the gods, before whispering a name. "What?"

Rachel whispered the name again.

"Speak up girl!" Hera snapped.

"Perseus Jackson." Rachel said, voice squeaky and sharp with fright. If the explosion of noise before had been ear shattering, then this explosion was earth shattering. Rachel doubted she would ever hear clearly again.

"Never!"

"The Traitor!"

"Murderer!"

"Maybe If Tartarus Froze over!"

The gods roared with rage, the very foundations of Olympus shaking with their fury, thunder booming overhead, wraiths screaming, and the gods themselves started shining as their divine forms fought to be seen, to show their utter disdain and anger at the world, and especially at that name. Poseidon seemed frozen in place, eyes wide, staring at Rachel. The Oracle stumbled to the floor, before throwing herself up and rushing over to one of the great bronze braziers that circled the room. She reached past the burning logs, flinching at the heat, and grabbed a handful of soot and ash. The Oracle ran back into the center of the room, trying to keep her balance, before throwing the burned material into the air.

The ashes hung suspended for a moment, before a greenish mist suddenly started swirling from within. The ash and mist grew and grew, before circling the young girl. A booming voice, twice as loud as the gods, suddenly exploded within the hall. "GODS OF OLYMPUS!" All light in the room suddenly seemed to flicker out, and the gods fell silent, surveying the writing mass of glowing ash. Images suddenly showed in the cloud. Two boys with swords advanced against fifteen constantly shifting figures.

"YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOUR CHAMPION! THE FATES HAVE CHOSEN THEIR OWN! TOGETHER THEY SHALL SAVE OLYMPUS. IF YOU ALLOW YOUR PERSONAL VENDETTAS TO BLIND YOU, THIS SHALL BE YOUR FATE!" The gods watched as one of the boys vanished. The remaining boy was mobbed by the figures, who quickly pulled him into the mist. Seconds later a new image appeared in the swirling ash; Olympus in ruins, flames pouring out of their sacred home. After a few seconds, the green mist started to fade, and the light slowly flickered back on. After a few seconds, the center of the room had returned to normal, apart from the pile of ashes that the Oracle was now standing in.

"Perseus was Kronos' most trusted warrior, he was Kronos' chosen champion. He is the only one who is capable of ending the threat, and even then only with your champion's help. Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to buck up and deal with it." Rachel growled. The gods stayed quiet for a long time, expressions of rage still lingering in their faces.

"Why would we ever Redeem that monster? Do you not know what crimes, what horrors that beast has committed?"

Rachel shrugged. "I'm just the messenger. If you would like to go tell the Fates that they got it wrong and that they need to pick a different champion, be my guest." Zeus growled, and the smell of ozone started to fill the air.

Athena rose from her throne. "If we were to allow… Him… to join, and I do believe it would be the wisest course of action, but if we did, I'm noticing a flaw in this trial. Forgive me if I am incorrect, but the Moirai Trials are what allow the fallen hero to reclaim their life, their being, it purges them of their corruption. The power, the experience gained from it, that is what allows for our wayward children to truly return to us. Every time the trials occur, there is only just enough to Redeem our champion and return them to us. There will not be enough for power to Redeem two fallen heroes."

"I didn't say that both heroes would be Redeemed. I just said that there would be two champions."

The gods whispered back and forth, glancing at Poseidon. His previous astonishment was now carefully hidden, and solid, unfazed wall staring back at the council.

Ares finally seemed to take an interest. "Wait, if only one can get the power, that means until one of 'em gets offed, they both have to keep going. So to get Redeemed, they're going to have to fight, and one of 'ems going to kill the other. Hehe, I like this plan. The two strongest fallen heroes going head to head. I'm game."

Typical, but helpful.

"And with that little juicy history I gave them, having to kill each other, watching them die in their arms; oh it does sound so romantically tragic." Aphrodite said, a dreamy smile spreading across her face. Rachel shuddered, silently praying to Apollo for a way to keep away the insane love god.

"It is out of the question. Perseus-"

Poseidon sat up. "I move we allow Percy to go on the quest. There is an equal chance that my own son may not succeed, and you may all get your wish for his death. But until that time, you need him. Not allowing him is as foolish as our own father trying to consume us. Who sides with me?"

Ares hand shot up into the air, closely followed by Aphrodite's. After a few seconds, Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Apollo raised their hands. Poseidon looked around desperately. Rachel knew how these votes worked.

The god who brought up the decision was never allowed to vote, leaving an odd number to decide; no chance of a tie, no chance of a huge civil war among the gods. Right now, with only five hands, Poseidon was still one vote short of a major victory. Zeus smirked angrily at his brother saying "And all opposed." Zeus, Hera, Artemis, Athena, and Hermes raised their hands. Zeus was grinning grimly in victory before the realization seemed to hit everyone that only ten votes had been cast. All heads swiveled to far side of the room, where Hades sat in the shadows, brooding.

"So it all comes back to me. Of course." Hades said with a dry grin.

"What is your vote brother?" Poseidon asked.

"Yay or nay?" Zeus asked, voice dangerously low.

Hades laid his head back, eyes closed. "Let the child murder rot for the rest of eternity and watch my home and myself burn, or let him lose with the possibility that he may die and I can kill him later myself. Yes, I like that plan." Hades opened his eyes smiling into the concerned eyes of the other Olympians.

"Let the Poseidon's brat go. If he doesn't, I won't be able to achieve vengeance upon him, or our dear, dear father." Zeus growled, and Poseidon gave a silent sigh of relief, before turning back to the Oracle.

"It is decided." Rachel nodded, hiding a smile, before saying "I'll get them the knowledge they'll need for the quest as soon as they're released. I have nothing further to say until the solstice."

Zeus clenched his fist before saying "Any other business?" His angry tone left no little to the imagination. Zeus was not happy about letting Poseidon's son, out, especially if he had a chance to be Redeemed. "Then we are adjourned." In a blinding flash of golden light and a peal of thunder, Zeus vanished, closely followed by the other Olympians.

Hermes dashed out the gold doors, his task now to unleash the two chosen champions. Rachel glanced after him, knowing that she would have to catch up soon to help out the fallen heroes. Footsteps approached, and she looked back, finding Poseidon before her. "Thank you."

Rachel shrugged. "It's all the Fates. Percy's a good friend, I know he'll make the right choices."

Poseidon nodded, forlorn look on his face. "If only I had gotten to him before Kronos… He never would have had to experience this miserable fate. This will give him the second chance he deserves." Rachel glanced away, avoiding eye contact, before heading towards the door. "Oracle?"

Rachel flinched as he placed his hand on her shoulder. She could feel those sea green eyes boring holes through her head, poor baby seal eyes that begged for consolation. Why did the gods notice everything? "You know something else? Something about Percy's chances in the trials. What's wrong? Please, he's my only son." Rachel heaved one last sigh, before turning back.

"Percy's past is what is going to change everything. Luke is important to the quest, but everything rests on Percy and how he reacts to everything. Every little thing that happens from this point on can completely screw it up. Right now your biggest issue is how Percy going to respond to being forced to be with Luke."

Poseidon nodded, but he was still waiting.

"Just leave it at that, please my lord. You don't want to know the rest."

Poseidon just shook his head. "I have to know. I have to help him." Rachel shook her head, but Poseidon tightened his grip, staring pleadingly into her eyes. Rachel pushed him away, stomping away to the door. Poseidon stayed where he was, watching as she reached the door, eyes locked on her as the golden doors eagerly opened for her. She had just set a foot into the hallway, when she stopped. She wavered there for a few, horribly long seconds.

"I've looked at the future from every possible angle I could. I've ran through every scenario. You want to know what happens? You want to know why I'm worried? You know that they'll have to try and kill each other. But it doesn't matter what the outcome is. It all amounts to one simple thing. To defeat Kronos, Perseus has to die."

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**Okay, so your probably lots of questions right now (Or I totally failed and your completely lost and/or bored out of your mind), but I promise they'll get answered soon (BTW if anybody doesn't know Moirai=Fate) But if you have answers you want now, just PM me. Anyways, please, please, please read and review, helps with updates, moral, and just lets you know if your a good writer, if you suck, or if you need to fix some things up. Hope you have a great morning/day/night, and I promise to get to the good stuff soon, just stick around a little bit longer. Thank you loyal readers! (Oh yeah, SHOUTOUT to H. N. Dots, you so totally rock, thank you!)  
**


	3. Free-Falling Fallen

**Disclaimer, I don't own the Percy Jackson series, basically everything belongs to Riordan, the Greeks, the Romans, and all the other ancients**

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**Free-Falling Fallen**

Luke POV

Location- **Olympus, Hall of the Fallen, Cell #7**

**20** days, **22** hours, **59** minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

The ball hit the far wall, bounced off the floor, and back into my hand. I threw it. The ball hit the far wall, bounced off the floor, and back into my hand. Cliché bored prisoner behavior? Oh yeah. But when you're stuck in a seven by seven foot stone box with nothing but a bed, a window that looked out into hazy twilight, lame cliché's really help alleviate the cabin fever. How long had I been trapped in the dungeons of Olympus? A week? A month? A year? Who knows. Yeah, I tried the whole scratch system for every day.

Problem is, when the view from your window never changes, time starts to become irrelevant. You couldn't ask any of the guards for anything either; the scumbag stone Guardians in the hall only ever came in when they were doing inspections or taking out prisoners, magically creating a door in the wall that was otherwise nonexistent. And as for food, the crummy stuff they fed us magically appeared every time we woke up. The ball hit the far wall, bounced off the floor, and back into my hand. This was not where I was supposed to be.

According to the get rich and famous scheme I had come up with before my dad screwed up my life, by this point in my life I was supposed to be retired, laying on a beach on some nice, hot island in the equator, lounging in heaps of cash and drachmas, getting waited on hand and foot, preferably with some hot dark haired beauty on my arm. Preferably with a few hot dark haired beauties actually. But as you probably noticed, that isn't happening. The first part of my plan had been perfect; I had nabbed Zeus' Master Bolt and Hades Helm of Invisibility, I had pinned all the evidence on somebody else, the gods had bought it and went after him, and I was on my way to sell two of the most powerful god weapons to the highest bidder. Then dear old daddy came into the picture. And now I was here. The ball hit the far wall, bounced off the floor, and back into my hand.

How long had I been doing this? My arm was sore for the repetitive action, and by now I was pretty sure it was actually screwing my brain up more than the boredom, if that was even possible. The ball hit the far wall, bounced off the floor, and flew by my hand, smacking the stone next to my head. It bounced back to the ground, before slowly making its way to the other side of the room, and finally coming to a rest in the corner. I stared at the motionless piece of rubber for a few seconds, before standing up, stretching stiff muscles.

That was the only acceptable thing about these boxes they had us trapped in. As long as we were inside them, we seemed trapped in some sort of stasis, unable to decay in any physical way. It was meant as a punishment, and as a way for us to be sent right back out into the field for a trial (like that was ever going to happen) so the gods weren't sending out flabby, out of shape heroes to do their dirty work. So basically I was in the exact shape I had been before I got thrown in here; a twenty year old blonde athletic stud with a scar. Only bad part about the stasis? You couldn't improve either. Of course they wouldn't give you a sword; who knows what kind of crazy crap us prisoners might cause with a few blades. But I mean come on, trapped for all eternity, and no matter what I do, as long as I'm in here, I'm never gonna get that perfect six pack.

Wow did I really think that? This place really does kill brain cells. I leaned down, scooping up the ball, and turned around in time to see a series of golden lines flare up on the opposite wall, forming a large rectangle. The empty space inside the lines light up, and suddenly I was looking at a dark metal door. Keys jingled in the locked, and the door swung open, revealing one of the Guardians; sentient marble statues with bad attitudes, equipped with Taser Swords and Branding Irons, assigned as guards to the various areas within Olympus.

"Looks like it's your lucky day scum." The Guardian said, grinning, rough stone daggers grinding together in its mouth. I stared at it, trying to jumpstart my dead brain. The door was… open?

"Castellan!" The Guardian barked, finally snapping me out of my daze. I took a hesitant step forward, my body running on autopilot as I walked over to the door. The Guardian stepped out of the door, nodding for me to exit. I looked down, looking at the threshold, the change from grey stone to polished black granite, before taking that step back into the real world.

The effect was immediate; it was like the whole world suddenly brightened, the colors returning to the world. The smell of the smoke coming from the torches on the walls filled my nostrils, and the sight of the dark, black and bronze walls assaulted my eyes. It was like an assault on my senses. The feeling suddenly seemed to return to my limbs, and I actually stumbled forward, surprised at suddenly being able to feel the gritty cloth that made up my orange jumpsuit, the frozen tiles beneath my feet biting my newly awakened senses.

Everything was so new; I was out of stasis. I was alive again. The Guardian poked me in the back with the hilt of his sword, sending me whirling around. Battle instincts inside of me demanded me to lash out at the elbow extending the sword, grab the sword and give a violent twist, kicking out the inside of his leg as I disarmed him, before bringing it back around and decapitating my previous jailer. I managed to resist, focusing on the sparkles in the polished floor. Do not attack a guard now. I would not- no, I could not get thrown back into that cell again. I would take everyone here out or go down fighting, I would kill myself before I got thrown back in that cell again. Being trapped in there, that was almost as bad as being dead in the first place. "Show some respect maggot, there is a god present." There was? I glanced up, and instantly the battle instinct was back.

Flanked by two more, angry looking Guardians, was the one god who had screwed up my whole life. "Hello son." Hermes said, a weak smile forming on his lips. I scowled back at him, staying quiet. I heard the Guardian behind me move to strike me, but my dad held up a hand. "That won't be necessary. Why don't you go fetch the other one, he's fine."

The three Guardians glared at me as they saluted the dirtbag, before stomping off down the hall, somehow vanishing out of sight. A long, awkward silence followed as I refused to look at the god who had abandoned me all those years ago, the one who had finally shown up only to send me here. "I got you sent to the top of the list. You've been chosen as our Champion. It's time for your Moirai Trials."

Yeah I knew that. I wouldn't be out here otherwise. The Trials were the gods way of taking care of their screwed up children, without actually admitting that they had down anything wrong, and then making their kids go on important quests to 'redeem themselves' and gain power. What a waste of time.

"I know that things aren't easy between us. And I know that I let you down. But this is beyond that, this is our second chance; your second chance. When you beat this, you can prove to the others that you are good, that you are the best hero out there. More than that though. When this is all over, we can be a family again. I promise you, this time I'll stay. I'll make our lives good again, we'll find your mother and-"

"Your entourage is gone, you can stop pretending you actually care. How long have I been in there?"

Hermes stared at me for a few seconds, face an unreadable mask. "Ten years."

Ten years. Ten. I think I stumbled forward, barely managing to steady myself. Ten years? Sure I had been in there a long time, but… ten years? No, this scumbag had to be lying. I was thirty years old mentally, I had wasted ten years of my life stuck in stasis waiting for my life to finally restart? A single, unwelcome though burst into my head, and for a second I saw sea green eyes, ebony hair, and a blinding smile. His voice had still been cracking when I left. How old would he be now? I managed to banish the thought, trying to rid myself of the memory of that young kid.

I didn't have to try very hard; after a few seconds, my vision started to turn red, the realization of how my dad had once again screwed my life up truly sinking in. I think I rushed him, going in for a right jab to the face. I'm not sure. I know I hit something, and managed to get in a few more hits before I was unconscious. When my head finally cleared, I was on the floor, staring up at the ceiling, feeling like I had stepped in front of a speeding bus covered in barbwire and battery acid. I managed to push myself up off the ground and looked around.

I had been moved farther down the hall, towards an open area, where I could make out a strange circle in the floor made up of various metals. More Guardians were around this area, and most were glaring at me. Hermes was talking to two Guardians who were examining strange markings on the wall. "He's awake my lord." One of them said, noticing my movement.

"Thanks for the report captain obvious." The Guardian glared and Hermes gave me an exasperated look.

"Carroll, Caesar, Capone… Ah, Castellan!"The other Guardian tapped one of the markings on the wall, and an outline matching the one that had created my door appeared, and a small drawer popped out from the seamless wall. Hermes motioned for me to come over, and after a weighing whether or not to flip him off, I stood up and stalked over, trying not to tip and sway as my vision sent the room spinning.

"These are the possession we held for you during your containment." The Guardian started extracting items. "One enchanted master key."

The Guardian pulled out a black skeleton key, tossing it to me. The little beauty could open any lock I came across. "One pair of night vision and infrared sunglasses." Always came in handy.

"Three rolls of duct tape." No problem couldn't be solved with duct tape.

"One personalized Swiss army knife." I'd had it since I was six, and since then I had tinkered with it, adding whatever seemed necessary, whether it be laser pointer, can opener, or remote detonator.

"One Omega level Celestial Bronze dagger and Xiphos."

"Hello beautiful." I eagerly accepted my sword, giving in an experimental swing. Perfectly balanced as always, just a tad heavy on the tip, the edges still chipped and worn from too many fights to count. It felt like I had just been reunited with some long lost limb, some essential piece that had just been waiting for me to find it again.

"And finally, twenty three condoms." Hermes eyebrows raised.

"You got a problem?" I glared at him. Hermes shook his head, and for a second I swore he was smiling, before he looked back up, face blank.

We all stood there for a long awkward minute while I stood there, swinging my sword. "So… yeah. Shouldn't I be getting ready for the Trial?" Hermes suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. "Not yet. This Trial is… complicated. More than any other Moirai Trial we've ever had before. Right now we're waiting for the other Champion."

"Wait what? I thought you said I was the Champion." Leave it to my dad to lie to me almost the instant he sprung me out of my cell.

"I said that the gods chose you as _our_ Champion. But for this Trial, the Fates also chose their own Champion. You two will have to work together to complete the quest. And to truly finish it you'll have to…" Hermes trailed off, shaking his head "Never mind. I would have protested more, tried to give you more power in this Trial, but I believe that the Fates Champion will do you good." "

What are you going on about now?" I snapped angrily. I could almost swear I saw Hermes flinch. "You may deny it, but we have a lot in common Luke. And one of our worst flaws, is the wake of destruction we leave behind. We don't see it, we don't see long term consequences. I'm Immortal Luke, I've been around the block more than a few times, and I still don't always see the scars I leave behind with my carelessness. You have the right to be angry with me, because I wasn't there for you. I left you and your mother, let you fend for yourselves against a world who had it in for the both of you. The things you had to go through without a family, the pain you felt. That's my fault son, it's my burden to bear. You don't know how humbling it is to look back and really see what you've done. But you will. This Champion is going to show you just how far you fell Luke. And when you see that, you'll finally be able to come back to the light."

I glared at my dad. What should I be ticked off about first? The fact that he was comparing himself to me? The fact that he was saying that I basically screwed up everything I touched? How about that he was making himself out to be some kind of martyr? No, I'd go with the Champion finally making me go 'back to the light'.

"What the hell are you talking about? And who in Hades is the other fricken Champion?"

One of the Guardians glanced around almost nervously, as though accepting retribution for my comment. This Champion scared the Guardians? Got to admit, that's pretty badass right there.

Hermes flicked my sword over his hand, and I started, realizing for the first time that he had literally nicked it and my dagger right from under my nose. Footsteps began to come up from one of the other hallways, and I turned expectantly, waiting. Two voices started to accompany the steps, one even laughing after a few seconds. I knew that laugh. It dug at me like an itch, flicking through my memories, trying to place the infectious tune. The unseen Champion laughed again and I frowned in agitation.

Who was it? I knew that laugh, I knew them, but where? The heavy march of one of four Guardians got even closer, and I watched as they finally came into the light, the boy I could only assume to be the Fates Champion walking out in front of them, smiling, looking completely carefree. They looked around seventeen, maybe eighteen, their hair was a mess shaggy ebony with a single stripe of their eyes were a tantalizing shade of sea green, and their skin sun kissed and bronzed. I could definitely see the godly blood in them; extremely well built, but at the same time lanky, almost giving off a kind of skater vibe. Gods, did they still have skaters back in the real world nowadays? The boy was giving off a fifty watt smile, beaming at everything he saw.

And then his eyes found me. In that split second when sky blue met sea green, the eyes and the laugh clicked together, and I knew who the Champion was. The boy's smile vanished instantly, face contorted with blind rage.

"You!" Percy snarled.

"You!" I barked.

I don't even remember willing myself to move, but the next half second, I was charging forward, my few possessions now littering the floor.

Percy was faster, tackling me to the ground mid stride. We slammed to the floor, and he instantly twisted on top of me, straddling my chest and repeatedly pummeling my face and throat. My nose exploded in pain as he hit it, definitely breaking it, before I managed to push back, lifting my legs up and entwining them around his neck, twisting around and changing positions. I managed to get a punch in while Percy struggled in my grasp, going for the inside of my kneecaps, before sucker punching me in the kidneys.

I let go, gasping in pain, and Percy hopped up, pushing me down and grabbing a fistful of my hair, smashing my head down into the granite. Stone arms suddenly grabbed us, wrenching us apart. I was breathing hard through my mouth, my nose was bleeding, and my whole face was numb. It looked like Percy was already starting to gain a black eye. We struggled against our Guardian captors, Percy even managing to throw two of them off, snapping one of the downed warrior's stone arms off at the elbow with a tremendous stomp.

"ENOUGH!" Hermes bellowed.

Everyone present froze, eyes flashing towards the irritated god.

"Save it for the Trial. You two are brothers in arms, you are both fighting for your redemption. Don't act like the monsters they see you as. You two must get along if you are to survive and save us all." One look over at Percy showed that we were thinking the same exact thing; never.

"Already getting into trouble Seaweed Brain?"

Percy's head whipped to the side, and the grin reappeared. "Me get into trouble? I'd never!"

A redhead girl in a paint splattered toga walked up to Percy, waving away the Guardians, before putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow. "Really now?"

Percy chuckled, before shrugging his shoulders. "Can't blame a guy for trying Rachel." Rachel rolled her eyes, before throwing her arms around Percy, hugging him tight. Percy hugged back, laughing as Rachel gave him a squeeze before leaning back.

"Looking messy as always. How've you been? You still working for that gallery? How long did they keep me on ice?" Rachel glanced down at her stained toga and giggled.

"Yeah, my latest projects working up to be a real zinger. I've been amazing, as usual, and as for the gallery, well, I kind of bought it. And basically every other gallery on the west coast." They burst into laughter, trailing off after a minute, realizing that the Guardians were all staring at them.

"Um, yeah. So anyway, you've been on ice for roughly four years, give or take a few months."

Percy just shook his head. "So I'm twenty two now? Dang I'm old." Rachel glared at him. "We're the same age Percy. Are you calling me old?" Percy took a step back, laughing and shaking his heads.

"Believe me, I wouldn't dare, Miss Dare. Besides, you and I are kinda immortal, we both look like we literally just turned eighteen." Rachel rolled her eyes and glanced over to me. "And you must be Luke. I've heard all about you."

"Who hasn't?" I asked, cocky grin sliding into place. Percy's smile vanished again, glaring holes in my head.

"The real question though, is who you are beautiful, and how you got mixed up with that lug head." Rachel raised an eyebrow, and Percy clenched his fists, knuckles going white.

"The name's Rachel." "Pleasure to meet you gorgeous." "Pleasure to screw you up." Percy muttered. Rachel elbowed him in the ribs, giving him a disapproving look, before turning back to me.

"The pleasure is mine Mr. Castellan. You dropped your things back there, if you promise not to cause any more problems you can go pick them up while Percy gets his gear." I shrugged noncommittally, and Rachel frowned at me, placing her hands on her hips.

"Promise?" I glanced over at Percy. "Sure. Keep the dog on his leash and I'll play nice."

Percy snapped forward, twisting out of the Guardians hold, rushing for me, but Rachel stepped in between us, crossing her arms. I didn't need to see her face to know she was ticked off, I could actually see her green eyes glowing with anger. Damn she was hot. Percy skidded to a halt in front of her, glaring. We both knew that if he wanted to, he could have gotten around Rachel. I may have been trapped in a cell for a long time, but my past with Percy had shown just how impressive his skills were. This Rachel chick must have some definite pull on him to get him off the hunt. After a few seconds of a seemingly silent argument, Rachel sighed, before taking Percy by the arm and guiding him over to the markings.

"Percy, you're an idiot, you know that?" She turned her attention to another Guardian "Can you just get him his stuff already so we can get him out of here before he kills somebody?" The Guardian started messing with the wall symbols again, everyone glancing warily at Percy. He was definitely not the kid I remembered. Sheesh, how old had he been when I had last seen him? What had he been, thirteen? What had he done to get thrown in here? He had obviously done something big. I had stolen god weapons, and all I got was a couple kidney punches and a lot of smack talk from the guards. But they were scared of him. Whatever he had done, it had been big.

Figures though. The Percy I knew didn't know the definition of the word low key. The Percy I had known wasn't so bipolar either. Then again, that could just be his special attitude towards me. Oh good times. Wait what? I frowned, glaring at his out of control mass of black hair. Good times my foot. If it hadn't been for the little bastard, I never would have been caught. Hermes wouldn't have had the chance to ever put me in here.

"Jackson, Perseus." The symbols flared and a drawer pushed itself out of the wall.

"It's Percy actually." The boy said, walking up to the Guardian. The statue regarded him with a wary look, before reaching in for the drawer's contents. "These are the possession we held for you during your containment. One spoil of war, the Minotaur horn" One of Percy's two most prized possessions, a snapped off horn. Hard to believe he still carried that thing around.

"Two sand dollars." Seriously? What the hell were those gonna do for him?

"One enchanted wristwatch." Percy eagerly accepted it, sliding it onto his wrist and smiling down at it. Obviously something good.

"One two ounce bottle of blue food dye."

"Really Percy? Really."

"What's wrong with that? It's just so I can make my food blue whenever I want." Rachel face palmed.

"One Ipod and set of headphones." What the heck was an Ipod? "And finally one Alpha level Celestial Bronze Xiph-... What the?"

The Guardian rummaged around in the drawer for a few minutes, before looking up to Hermes, a confused look on his face.

"Anaklusmos is missing my lord." Percy cleared his throat before smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, about Riptide…" He reached bent down, reaching down to his pant leg, and for the first time I noticed a hole in his uniform, with what looked like some kind of stitched together fabric, making for a makeshift pocket. Percy pulled a ballpoint pen out of it.

"Sorry, I got _really_ bored in there." Percy explained. Now I had to admit that at least was a tad smart.

Making himself a pocket so he would at least have a weapon was better than going crazy playing with a bouncy ball for ten years. That didn't mean it was good news for me though. He probably had been practicing all this time in his cell while I had been letting myself go, trapped in stasis. The difference was already showing in our brief scuffle. Hermes cleared his throat before finally speaking up again.

"So as you already figured out, this is not your traditional Moirai Trial. The Gods and the Fates have both chosen a champion for this task." Percy and I nodded.

"Olympus is in danger. Kronos is about to strike." Percy tensed, what little was left of his good mood draining out. "The two of you are going to be sent down to Odyssey Cover. From what the Oracle has told me, Kronos has been using the town as a headquarters. He will launch his assault on the solstice, and if he does, Olympus will fall. You have roughly three weeks to stop him. If you succeed, you will be Redeemed, you will become heroes, and Olympus will be spared. If not, then the entire world will fall into a brand new dark age." Hermes let the words sink in for a long minute, before Rachel let out an awkward laugh.

"On that wonderful news, I have some info you're going to need." Percy and I turned out attention back to the redhead.

"I don't know much about what's going on down there. But that's why the Fates picked you Percy. You'll know what to do with the information I do have."

"Ok." Percy said hesitantly.

"Odyssey Cove is home to a lot of demigods, but not all of them actually know what's going on. Kronos has all kinds of Mist traps and monsters around town to keep them there and under control as a sort of insurance policy. Kronos has picked seven demigods and has somehow connected them to monsters. I have no idea how it works."

"I do." Percy murmured.

Percy was paler than usual, his usual fidgety nature gone. "I figured you would. Anyways, however Kronos is doing it, he's going to be finished with them soon. Once he's done, his minions will be able to consume the gods, and Kronos will destroy Olympus and take control" Percy opened his mouth to say something but Rachel beat him to the punch "You can explain things to Luke when you get down there. Hermes, did you get the stuff?"

"Of course." Hermes pulled a backpack seemingly out of nowhere, and threw it to the girl. Rachel caught it and proceeded to rummage around inside.

"Give me a sec Hermes." Rachel muttered, frowning when she didn't find what she was looking for. "Take your time. I've already found a place for you two to set up shop, there are Mist wards and other defenses already in place for your stay. I took the liberty of stocking it with food and a few extra weapons and knick knacks, so you should be set. We're going to be putting you down as close to the other demigods as we can, you need to get to work right away. Find a way to help them. I don't know how, Percy, this part is all up to you."

Percy nodded, before Rachel let out a cry of triumph, producing a file from the backpack. "Here we are! This has information on all the demigods you'll need to save. Saving them is the key to defeating Kronos. Rachel tossed the folder to me, and Percy walked over, peering over my shoulder at the contents. Seven faces stared back at us from various pictures, names and bios flowing out underneath them. Rachel read off the names as I glanced through the pictures.

"There's Hazel Levesque, she's a daughter of Pluto."

"Pluto?" I asked, glancing up.

Surprisingly, it was Percy who spoke up instead of Rachel. "Roman counterpart of Hades, I'll explain later. You missed a lot during your stasis." I glanced to the picture of a girl with dark skin, cinnamon hair, and eyes that put gold to shame. "Next up is Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite."

"Whoa, McLean? Like Tristan McLean, movie star?"

"The same."

Percy let out a whistle and glanced back down at the smoking hot Cherokee girl. Her eyes were just as strange as Hazel's; they looked like they were split with half a dozen colors in the one picture, and seemed to change from every angle, even in the photo.

"Gonna be a pleasure to save her." I muttered.

Percy elbowed me in the ribs and the Oracle continued. "Then there's Frank Zhang, son of Mars." A chubby kid of Chinese descent. Mars. That was Ares right? This kid was the son of the war god? Go figure. "Annabeth Chase is after that, she's a daughter of Athena." A beautiful girl with a proud face and stormy gray eyes stared up at me, a challenge in her eyes. Definitely a kid of the goddess of wisdom.

"Might wanna watch out for Leo Valdez, he's a son of Hephaestus. He's… well he… you'll see what I mean."

An impish Hispanic boy with crazy black curls and wild brown eyes stared up at me with a mischievous smile. He looked like one of Santa's helpers on crack. Probably going to be one of the 'fun' saves of this Trial. "Next is the son of Hades, Nico Di Angelo."

Percy snatched the folder out of my hands almost faster than I could see, wide eyes staring at the picture of a gloomy looking boy who was glaring at whoever had taken the picture. He had manic black eyes, olive toned skin, and long, messy black hair. Out of all the demigods so far, he looked the most dangerous. Maybe it was because he was a son of Hades. All I knew was that I could already see the crazy in whoever it was.

Percy stared at the picture of the boy, silently mouthing the name, before glancing up at Rachel. Something was off in his eyes. Whoever this guy was, they had gotten to him even when Kronos hadn't. What was the dirt between them?

"Is it… I mean, do you know if it's the same?"

Rachel nodded her head seriously. "You'll need to be careful Percy. That one is going to be a struggle." Percy looked back to the picture, before gently tracing the image with his fingers.

"Six years" He whispered, almost too quiet to hear "How did this happen in six years?"

After a long pause, Rachel cleared her throat. "Moving on, finally there's Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. Of the seven, Jason and Nico are the only ones who know that our world exists, so if you explain things to him, you should have a fast ally. Remember, this needs to be handled delicately. I have more instructions in the bag, but for now, you'll just have to be extremely careful and feel the situation. You don't have much time, and the odds are already stacked against you. I've only seen six scenarios where we win, and you both die in five of them."

"Well aren't you a ray of sunshine." I muttered.

Rachel frowned, before tossing me the backpack. Hermes walked over, gently propelling Percy and I towards the circle in the floor.

"Its one twenty in the morning down there, but the kids are still out partying down in the city's main club. I'll drop you down as close as I can get you, but with Kronos' interference, I don't know how close I'll get you."

I frowned in confusion, before jumping back as Hermes snapped his fingers. The circle suddenly opened up, light and darkness flaring up from it, a mass of swirling images flying by at a sickening pace, before suddenly coming to a stop. I stared down through the hole, looking down through a hole in the clouds, where I could see a small collection of lights next to an ocean. Small town America I guess. So that was our destination huh?

"Luke, Percy."

We turned around, and Hermes looked us over, trying to find words.

"You two are the only ones who can save us. You must get over your past, over the pain you've put each other in the past. If you don't get over your differences, many will suffer. I know the two of you can do this. Be strong. Be smart. Be wise, be courageous. Be heroes." Hermes took back the backpack, putting the file in before shoving in the possessions the Guardians had just returned to us.

"Wish me luck?" Percy said, smiling sadly at Rachel. Rachel tackled him in another bear hug. I watched as she squeezed him hard, as if trying to memorize every detail of him, and for a second, I could have sworn I saw tears leak out of her eyes.

"Believe me, you're going to need it Seaweed Brain. Be safe." She let go with him, holding his hands and staring into his eyes, freely crying now. Percy frowned at his friend's sudden sorrow, and opened his mouth, probably to comfort her. And then Rachel pushed him. Percy stumbled to the edge of the circle, teetering dangerously, trying to regain his balance, before gravity claimed its victim, and Percy vanished, a blast of light erupting from the open portal as he fell through, a rapidly descending bolt of light.

"What the hell!?" I asked, scrambling away from the hole. They had just killed Percy!

Hermes caught me before I could get away, quickly sliding the backpack over my flailing arms and pushing me towards the hole. "Good luck son. I know you can do this. Be careful."

I made a final effort to get away, before Hermes stuck his foot out, tripping me. I fell forward, arms spiraling, trying to grab onto the sides, before getting blinded by the portals flash of light as I went through. And then I was freefalling, plummeting towards the dark ground, far below. This was gonna hurt.

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**... Yeah it was horrible I know. Anyways, hope you liked it, I really am trying, just dealing with major writers block, and a butload of work. Any questions, concerns, comments, anything, please review and keep on reading. I truly hope you enjoyed, and as usual, thank you again H. N. Dots, knowing somebody actually reads this is great, and I promise your question will be answered shortly, most likely in the next chapter. Anyways, hope you have a wonderful morning/day/night, ciao!**


	4. Too Much Too Little

**This is a disclaimer, I do not own the rights to Percy Jackson, or any of his characters**

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**Too Much Too Little**

Luke POV

Location-** Odyssey Cove, America, 13,349 Feet and Falling**

**20 **days, **21** hours,** 50 **minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

Have you ever gone skydiving before? It's one of those pure heart racing, adrenaline pumping, scream filled moments of life. Sure for mortals it's all kicks and giggles, all amazing and stuff. But when they sky happens to belong to an all-powerful deity who happens to hate your guts and you don't have a parachute, you realize just how much life really sucks for us demigods. Of course let's not forget that the moment my psycho dad pushed me through the portal in the floor and falling to my death, I had been enveloped in a coffin of blinding light and shot down towards Odyssey Cove at around seven hundred miles per hour and counting.

I was pretty sure that if it weren't for the fact that all the air was being sucked out of my lungs that I would be screaming bloody murder. I could see another rocket of light a couple miles further down, Percy appearing as a black outline in the blinding glow that surrounded him. So this was how we were going to die huh? I gotta admit, I did not see that one coming. The ground was getting closer, the whole town was splayed out beneath us. It was fairly small, the majority of buildings being pumped towards the center of town and slowly thinning out as you got farther away.

There were jagged jigsaw cliffs and giant boulders limiting the far reaches of the city limits, some even going into the ocean itself, where I could see waves crashing down on the rocky shore. Ok, so maybe Percy would survive this; sea water was like steroids _on_ steroids to that kid. I was catching up to Percy, we were almost neck and neck, racing to see who would become the world's first demigod pancake. We shot down towards the cliffs, they were getting closer and closer. I could see all the twists and turns leading far down into the water, with the ground coming up to us at an alarming rate, when the light around Percy and I suddenly twisted, and we were jerked up, racing back towards town.

We flew through the air, twisting and spinning madly, shooting through town. We twisted through town, racing through blurred streets, and then suddenly the light surrounding us was gone and we were falling. I flipped through the air, before getting slammed up against a painfully real wall, and falling to the ground. I moaned on impact, rolling over, feeling stiff, sore, and sick. My reawakened senses were in overload, the pain of impact being that much worse as I forced myself to my feet. Instinct took over and I grabbed my hand, feeling my pulse.

Still alive, check. I did a quick inventory. All limbs present and accounted for. I reached down past my waist, feeling for my favorite appendage. Good, that was definitely still there. Wouldn't want to disappoint any admirers. No broken bones, not cuts, a slight scrape on my shoulder, and definitely a lot of bruises. Not my best landing, but considering the fact that I was pretty sure I had been about to die, not my worst either. I turned around, taking in my surroundings. I had crash landed at the back of blocked off alley; a large dumpster was to the left, stinking of cheap booze, vomit, sugar, and greasy food. Loud music was playing from the brick building to the left, the bass pumping heavily through the night.

Probably the town club Hermes had been referring to. A stifled groan came from the dumpster, and I raised an eye as Percy pulled himself out. I couldn't help but smile at his appearance. His already messy hair was a tangled mass of knots and what looked like the leftovers of a burrito, and the left side of his prison uniform was coated in white frosting. "Ah now this takes me back." I said, earning a glare from Jackson.

"Screw you Castellan."

"You name the time and place _Jackson_." I laughed out loud when he actually blushed, glaring daggers at me, before inspecting his clothes. This may be a different Percy than the one I was used to, but it was definitely the same old Percy. "Where's the backpack?" I glanced around, realizing that it had failed to show up while I was checking the surroundings. I had a second to hear Percy say "Duck!" before something collided with the side of my head, sending me sprawling.

I groaned, turning over and watching as our backpack hit the ground a few feet away. "Thanks dad!" I called up at the sky. The bastard was probably laughing as he looked down at me. Percy walked over, smiling down at me.

"Nice catch." He said, offering a hand. I waved the hand away and pushed myself back up to my feet. Time to get to business.

"Alright, as fun as getting thrown out of Olympus was, let's move on shall we? What do we know?"

Percy raised his eyebrows at my change of pace before giving in.

"We're both champions on a Moirai Trial, where only one demigod can be redeemed, which means eventually we'll have to fight and I'll kill you. I say we put that part off until later, agreed?"

"Agreed." I needed to get a gauge on Percy anyways, figure out how strong he was. He was already a demigod protégé when I had met him, only time would tell how he had progressed, and right now, the unfortunate truth was that Percy's prediction was true. I needed to get back into fighting shape if I wanted to beat him.

Percy had moved on "Kronos has seven monsters connected to seven demigods, which he plans to use to destroy Olympus very soon." "How? Rachel said you knew." Percy stayed quiet for a moment before responding. "The Telekhine's. Kronos wanted to make an invincible army, something that could stand up to the gods. The Telekhine's gave him that. They found a way of basically creating an empathy link with demigods and other beings. Through the bond, they were able to use each other's powers, but more importantly, it allowed those Kronos chose to be able to access the demigod's godly ancestry. The recipient of that power essentially became a god themselves. They would be immortal and indestructible. They wouldn't have to regenerate or turn to dust, they would simply shake off whatever hit them and keep fighting. Anyone who went against Kronos would be going against an army of pseudo gods."

I let out a low whistle. "And the demigods just let this happen?"

Percy shrugged. "I doubt that any of them actually know. The empathy link can be made instantly if they're compatible with the demigod."

"Compatible how?"

"It's complicated. Involves emotions, shared passions, I need to check out the demigods before I can say."

"Alright. Taking a step back, how exactly do we kill them now if they're going on god mode?"

Percy shrugged. "We can't. Not yet anyways." I let out a snort "We can't kill them? Oh this just keeps getting better."

Percy shook his head "No, we can _kill_ them. Just now yet. First we need to know who they are, who they're connected to, how, sever the link, and then Banish them. Like I said, it's complicated."

I nodded, mulling through the information before curiosity poked at me. "How do you know all this?" Percy stayed silent.

"It's part of why you got locked up, isn't it? Come on spill already. I stole the god weapons, what did you do?" Percy looked into my eyes, his own cold and dead.

"I know because I joined him." My brain glitched. Percy had joined Kronos? No, no that didn't fit at all. I knew all about Kronos and the madness that he entailed. Hell, I had warned Percy about Kronos back when we were on good terms. That kid couldn't have possibly joined up with the psychopathic megalomaniac titan, even a Percy like this. It wasn't in his nature.

I studied his face, checking all the tells for a lie, but there were none. Percy had joined Kronos.

"Ok… why?" Percy shrugged and turned away

"I'm pretty sure this is the club Hermes was talking about, I say we take a look around and then do a little recon, try and figure out how bad things really are down here, you in?"

Nice avoidance tactic. I tucked away our conversation for later before grabbing the backpack and heading to the mouth of the alley with Percy in tow. The club looked large from the outside, some type of warehouse converted into a club and lounge, all made up of the same red brick of the alley way. Percy laughed when he saw the club sign, shaking his head.

"Really? That's what they came up with? They couldn't have thought up anything original?" Above us the words '**Half-Blood Swag**' stared back down at us in shiny neon letters illuminating the darkness. "I like it." Percy admitted.

"Of course you do." I muttered, earning a punch to my shoulder. I whipped around, reaching for the backpack, but stopped, staring at Percy.

"What?" Percy's clothes had changed. The previously garbage covered prison uniform had morphed into everyday clothing; blue chucks, black jeans, a sea green shirt, and a black and blue striped hooded jacket. The frosting and burrito remains were gone, and his skin was clean, and his hair had a shifted, taking on a skater vibe. It looked careless, but purposely messy.

Percy followed my gaze, starting as he saw his new wardrobe.

"How the…" Percy trailed off as he looked at me, before saying "Looks like we're in the same boat."

I searched around the empty street, before running across the street to an empty shop window, still lit up by dull street lamps. I looked into the window, the dark glass mirroring back my own face. Percy was right. Even as I watched, what had been my prison uniform slowly changed, bulging and bubbling, until there was nothing left of it. I had on my favorite leather jacket, my old black and red anarchy shirt, worn blue jeans, and combat boots. They were the clothes I had been wearing before I had got thrown in the slammer.

"It's like they hit a reset button." Percy mused, giving himself a onceover in the glass. I looked back at my own reflection, reaching up to feel my face. It had been a long time since I had seen myself, but Percy had summed it up. The gods had hit the reset button. I looked just like I had before that horrible day. Percy and I gasped in pained unison as our left arms suddenly burned. Black streaks stretched around our wrists, quickly expanding, and in a matter of seconds, twin cuffs made of dark metal were clamped tightly on our wrists. For a moment they pulsed with power, and as I watched, a bronze caduceus appeared on mine, while a trident of the same color appeared on Percy's.

Percy and I exchanged looks, a silent statement going out instantly. Yes we weren't trapped in a cell anymore, but we were far from free. I pressed against the cool metal of the cuff, trying to find a lose point, but there was none. It was practically fused to my arm. There was a crash and we both whipped around, and we saw a heavy looking man throwing a shirtless teen out of the club.

"And don't come back!" He yelled as the teen ran off, howling and jumping. Music and lights poured out from the door until the man slammed the door shut. Percy and I exchanged glances, before I grabbed my sword out of my backpack, strapping it to my side, and slug the pack over my shoulders.

"Aren't you going to worry about that?" Percy asked. Riptide was being flipped around his palm, dashing between his fingers in a white blur. Things definitely didn't change, his nervous habit was still there.

"Don't worry, mortals can't even see it. Now come on, let's find out what we're dealing with."

Percy and I stalked across the street, and pushed open the door into a short hallway. More lights and music blew past us, coming from some main room, and the tired looking man who had thrown out the teen glanced up at us, before waving his hand, ushering us in. Despite the horrible name, Half-Blood Swag was pretty nice. The music was coming from a band up onstage at the far end of the warehouse, the noise somehow pumping through the entire place, while lights of all different colors, shapes and sizes lit up the whole room.

The room felt hot and crowded, people were dancing and jumping, laughing, talking, singing along, dancing; it was a party. A small booze shop had been set up next to the bar, with a steady line of people leading up to it. Something felt right about being here, something made me want to be here forever, to never leave. Why was I here again anyways? What did I need to be doing? Who cared? Percy was next to me, swaying slightly before he flinched back, eyes snapping to the stage. He said something, but over the noise I couldn't hear him. Damn he looked good.

I had wanted to kill him? Nah, I could think of much better things to do with that body of his. Memories of what I had done came swirling back and I smiled. At least until Percy suddenly pinched me. Clarity suddenly shot back through and I saw Percy waving his hand in front of my face.

"You have to focus. The singer, she's a siren."

I frowned, glancing back to the stage, studying the singer. For a second, all I saw was a hot brunette in a slutty 70's waitress uniform, but the more I focused, the more I saw a fat looking hag with the body of a vulture covered in rags. That was it.

"I'm gonna take a swing, that this is one of the reasons why nobody knows why Kronos and his goons are here?"

Percy nodded. It was actually pretty ingenious. Individually a sirens song was overpowering, and it would be too easily noticed, but in a big public area, where what looked like the majority of the town came, its voice was spread so thin that it was hypnotic, and poked your subconscious into relaxing, letting go of all intelligent thoughts. Genius.

"I've got Wise Girl." Percy said, staring off into the crowd.

"Who?" Percy laughed, before freezing, glancing back at me.

"Never mind. It's the blonde girl." I followed his gaze, finding the daughter of Athena, Amelia or Anastasia or something, playing pool. Wise Girl huh? Just one more thing about Percy to file to the back of my head. I looked around, trying to get a lock on the other targets.

"I got the dwarf on crack and the Asian kid." I said, watching as the two played some arcade game in the corner. I watched as the chubby one looked back and forth from the game to the corner of the room, and saw the other girl, Hazel, playing poker. And by the amount of chips at her end of the table, I'd say she was doing pretty well.

"Alright, four down, three to go. We're still missing Piper, Jason, and… Nico."

Piper was easy to find actually. All I had to do was look for the biggest crowd in the room. Ms. Drop Dead Gorgeous was in the middle of a throng of twelve or so equally gorgeous girls, all in skimpy uniforms, all grinding up against each other and anyone brave enough to come close.

"I'll go ahead and take care of her and her entourage, I'm sure I can handle them." I said, taking a few steps towards them.

Percy grabbed my arm, and snapped me back, throwing me up against a column, his ocean eyes dark and stormy.

"You can stop being a horny idiot idiot, we're kind of trying to save the world from getting destroyed."

"I'm not being a horny idiot, and believe me, I'll make sure the world gets saved. The fact that there's a throng of hot chicks who'll be screaming my name in a few minutes is just a happy coincidence in the grand scheme of things. " I said, watching hungrily as she and her friends spun on the dance floor. I laughed at Percy's expression, before a flash of blond caught my eye. I glanced over Percy's shoulder, ignoring him as he went on a mini rant, focusing on the blonde. The last demigod from the file, Grace, was looking over at us a hungry look in his eyes. The kid had good tastes. I winked at him and he started making his way through the crowd.

"Sparky's on his way over. You might wanna stand back, he's got his eyes on the prize."

Percy made a disgusted sound and pushed me away, moving back towards the entrance. I shrugged, throwing back on a smile and turning back to Sparky, only to see him correcting his course, gaze locked on the son of Poseidon. I felt my pride drop about three notches. Alright, so sadly some less than average stupid people out there didn't know when the god's gift to women (and men) was right in front of them. Too bad for them. I rushed ahead, catching up with Percy and quickly steering him to the exit.

"What? Sparky too much for you to handle?" Percy snapped, quickly stepping away from me.

I shrugged. "Not my type, looks a little uptight."

"If you think he's uptight you should…" Percy trailed off, before jumping back into the darkness of the alley. I hopped in after him, glancing around.

"What's up?" Percy pointed down the street, where a hellhound was slowly meandering down the street. "No way there's going to be just a random monster wandering around. Kronos wouldn't want any accidents, especially with such a high demigod population. It's out because most of the town is all trapped in one area, which mean that now it's going to be headed home."

"Base of operations?" Percy questioned.

"Probably. Let's find out."

Percy and I slowly followed the beast through town, ducking behind cars and corners, hoping our scent blended in with all the other demigods around time. Soon we were past the town limits, through the thick ring of trees that surrounded the town on all sides, and down the highway. After ages, the beast finally went got off the main road, following a beaten dirt road leading off into shadows. An old sign was stuck in the dirt reading "Private Property. Othrys Junkyard." "Othrys. Is that…?" I glanced back at Percy, but Percy kept his head forward stomping forward.

Othrys. The titan equivalent of Olympus. The possibility of actually finding the base of operations was getting better and better. The end of the road tilted violently suddenly, the entire area sinking in to form a large valley area. Trash was heaped all around, piles of it making a maze of junk for what looked like miles. A barbed wire fence circled the junkyard, rusted and old.

A single old shack stood behind the one lone gate, standing beside the only light in the whole junkyard. And standing high above the rest of the junkyard, highlighted bright against the moonlight, was one of the largest piles of garbage I had ever seen. It was tall enough that it went all the way from the bottom of the valley far below, to a good half a mile above us. The only way it had remained hidden for so long were the tall trees, their branches stretching just right to block it from every angle.

"But how did we not see it? I mean, if it's that big…"

"Look." Percy pointed back from the hellhound. It approached the main gate, and was only feet away when it suddenly vanished into thin air. I glanced around taking everything back in, mind racing.

"Some type of glamour, must be bending the Mist to a proportion that even we can't see things."

Percy nodded. "It has to be, it's hiding the Titan's home. We probably aren't even seeing the whole things, it's probably still even bigger than this. If Kronos is still using his old bag of tricks, then there's probably some kind of shield up to, something that only lets monsters and those he allows to enter. So for now we're literally blind. We know there's monster here, but how many we don't know. The minimum is eight, the seven connected to the demigods, plus this hellhound. But for all we know there could be a whole army. Kronos is probably in there to, and how many titans he has, we don't know. We don't know how they connected the demigods, we don't know how long that siren has been brainwashing the community. We know literally nothing. How long do we have again?" I shrugged, rubbing the metal cuff on my arm. So many problems, too few answers, and not enough time.

My thief sense went off, some instinct inside my head warning me that we were no longer alone. I stretched my arms up, tilting my head to the side just slightly, and eyes snapping through the trees. My son of Hermes genes were up and kicking. Everything was lit up to me in brilliant detail, all the possible hiding spots, ambush areas, and rest stops exposed, and after a few seconds, my spidey senses were confirmed. Back at the beginning of the road, I could see the back of a purple shirt, half hidden by one of the thicker trees on the road.

Purple shirt… That was Sparky wasn't it? Huh so the kid had followed us. I shrugged, and was turning back around when something else caught my eye. This time I didn't notice it because of clothing or snapped twigs, or in fact any normal giveaways. The only reason I even suspected that the Grace boy wasn't our only follower was because all the shadows less than twenty feet away at the base of the trees, were contorted. They twisted around, deviating from where they should be, pointing towards the base. With all the demigods I had ever encountered, only one had ever had something as similar as that to happen, and he had been a son of Hades.

"Percy." I hummed softly.

Percy glanced over to me, and I carefully turned away from the road and the base of the tree, tapping my chest. Percy's eyes widened, watching as I performed some of our old signals. It had been a long time since we had used them; a secret language between the two of us, part sign language, part Morse, part English, part Greek, all code. Back when in the beginning when it had just been the two of us together, it had saved our lives too many times to count. _Two followers. Jupiter and Hades._ Percy's eyes somehow got bigger, and for a split second he started to turn around, but thought better of it at the very last second.

"I think it's about time we found where we're going to be staying." Percy said, now purposely staring straight ahead.

I nodded, looking back out at the junkyard. Like I had said before, far too many questions, not enough answers, and definitely not enough time. Just another suicidal adventure for us demigods.

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**Alright, hope you enjoy, have a great night/day/morning, please read and review, and if you liked this, check up on some of my other works, thanks!**


	5. Gold Rush

**Disclaimer, I don't own Percy Jackson**

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**Gold Rush**

Percy POV

Location-** Odyssey Cove, The Shoebox**

**20 **days, **18** hours,** 36 **minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

I was in heaven right now, wrapped up in a cocoon of soft, thick blankets, lying on a real bed. I had slept and actually had a dream! This was the first time in over four years that I wasn't sleeping on a hard cot, or trapped in an empty cell, locked away from any semblance of reality. Sure I had some kind of prison band on my arm now, a mark of the Trial, but I was free.

I couldn't remember how long it had been since I had been free. Definitely more than four years. And compared to where I had been before I was taken to the Hall of Fallen Heroes, those four years were actually pretty god. I frowned as memories started crawling up to the surface, pulling the blankets tighter. I wasn't outlined by my past, I wouldn't be controlled by it, and I certainly wouldn't let it get the better of me. I had gone through a lot to get here, to get my second chance. Redemption didn't come cheap, and I wasn't the only one who had paid the price.

A low moan came from the other side of the room, and all the peace and happiness that had been flooding through me only seconds before instantly drained out. Luke. The very thought of his name made my blood boil in anger. The arrogant, self-centered, narcissistic, manipulative git! It was his fault any of this had happened in the first place. The douchebag had manipulated a broken naïve eleven year old, leading him on and ripping apart, telling him that he mattered and wouldn't be abused or abandoned anymore, and then pinned one of the greatest heists in demigod history on him, sicking all of Olympus and the entire mythological world on him while he ran off with the goods. And that was only the beginning of the story.

A muffled yawn followed the moan, and I let out an irritated sigh and pushed myself out of my warm cocoon. I glared over at the other side of the room, where Luke was sprawled across his own bed in nothing but his underwear. The cocky jerk could never miss a chance to show off his body. Some things never changed. He didn't even like the base Hermes had given us.

I admit I was kind of thrilled to have my own home, even if it was just for a mission. Sure it was kinda small, and sure it only had three rooms; a single bathroom with a stand up shower, a bedroom with two twin beds, and a 'kitchen' if could even be called that (it only had a mini fridge, a microwave oven, and a sink), which was also our dining room, and living room. Luke had been disgusted by it, swearing about how tiny it was, and going on about how we could barely breathe in it. But it reminded me of another home I had had a long time ago, my only _real_ home. Back when I still had my mom. So I had affectionately christened it with the same title my mom and I had named our old home; the Shoebox.

Somehow in the middle of all the chaos, it made this small corner seem safe I guess. Luke stirred in his sleep, slowly sitting up and stretching, carefully toned muscles bulging and he moved, before smirking sleeping at me."See something you want Jackson?"

I flipped him off and hopped out of bed, draping one of the blankets over my shoulders and making my way to the kitchen. Rest was nice, but if things were as bad as they seemed, it was time to get to work. So much to do, so many people, and so many old faces…

I poured myself a tall glass of milk, before grabbing our lone chair and the backpack, sitting next to the sink to mull everything over. I pulled out the demigod files, spreading them out on the minute countertop. Hazel, Piper, Frank, Annabeth, Leo, Nico, and Jason. I only knew two of them, and I had no clue how much they had changed since we had been together. The rest were complete strangers, simply names on paper. How did they fit into all of this? I already knew the answer. The old me had already pieced everything together.

That piece of me that I kept bottled up in the dark, along with all the other dark pieces and memories of myself I didn't want to remember. This was the Percy who had been with Kronos. I gave in, forcing myself to revert to my old mindset, and looking at all the pieces. Seven demigods, seven monsters, and seven connections. In a town full of demigods, why weren't all the demigods connected? There was something special about them. Some of their qualities must match up perfectly, somehow shortening the usual six month process into a matter of weeks. But what did he base them off of? "What'cha looking at?" Luke drawled, shuffling into the kitchen, still all but nude.

"What comes in seven?" I asked out loud, ignoring him. Luke stopped for a second, blinking several times before resuming his actions and going for the fridge. "Seven? Um… Seven Wonders of the World, seven seas, seven continents, seven days of the week, seven colors in the rainbow… running on blanks here… um mom was big on the Bible, so I guess seven day of creation. That work?" I shook my head. No, none of those worked, nothing there actually- wait, the Bible. Kronos had loved to mock the religion that had replaced his own, but there was always one aspect he enjoyed.

"Seven deadly sins."

"Come again?"

I elaborated. "Kronos always loved the sins, the fact that they outlined their lives by making essentially everything he cherished be wrong, and everything he despised, be right. And it works here to, the aspects of the sins are powerful, if you matched them up carefully with the right demigod, then you would have some super charged empathy links. That's why he was able to speed things up so much. Now we just have to figure out who has which trait…"

I trailed off again, staring at the demigods. Even with this wonderful little hint, until we found out more about the demigods themselves, we were still in the dark.

"Ok so they all have their own sin, they all have some creepy monster stalker, so how do we beat the monsters? You said we couldn't last night."

"No, I said that we couldn't kill them yet. Like I said it's complicated. For now, we steer clear of the monster population. Right now all we need to do is find the demigods, and determine what sin they are. Once we do that, I'll clue you in on the rest."

Luke nodded, somehow pulling a fresh cup of steaming coffee out of the fridge. "Your friend Rachel was right about Jason and Nico. Jason tailed us all the way from the club, and Nico- honestly I have no idea what's up with that kid. How do you know him anyways?" The image of a frightened boy demanding that I take him back into a titan infested school to save his sister flashed through my head.

"Long story. Don't want to get into the details. Right now we need more info. Any recent developments, anything out of the ordinary, and I mean anything. Get dressed."

Luke grumbled, finishing off his drink. The town was eerily deserted when we finally exited the Shoebox. No one was walking around, almost all the shops were closed, and the few cars that did pass us were all headed for the same destination. The only buildings open were a lone marketplace, the Golden Touch Pawn Shop, and Half-Blood Swag. Not even monsters were lurking as we passed through, going from place to place. When we finally stopped in front of the club though, it became apparent why.

The siren was still singing; her song was being blasted outside the club, constantly drawing more and more people in. The whole town had been sucked into the club, hypnotized by that stupid song. Even Luke's eyes looked a little glazed as we walked in, head starting to bop to the melody of her voice. Immunity was easy enough once you figured out how to get it. One way was to stuff your ears and block out everything. Not really practical, especially when you were trying to talk to people. But the music didn't work on me. The magic of the sirens song-most enchantments actually- didn't work on me anymore. Years of war, death, and torture had taken away those weaknesses.

A bell and lights went off above the all the noise, and I glanced over in time to see Hazel throwing out handfuls of poker chips to everyone. How much money did that girl have? In the file it said that her family made barely enough money to support themselves. By the look of it, most of their clothes were homemade, hand me downs, or donations. And yet there she was, wearing brand new designer clothes, throwing around money like it was nothing. I slid up next to the bar, and nodded in Hazel's direction.

"Girl looks like she's winning big."

The bartender glanced up disinterestedly. "Levesque? No kidding. Poorest girl in town goes from rags to riches overnight. She's always been an oddball, but now" The man shook his head "Most people think she's dealing dirty."

"How come?"

"Because she started getting rich right after the town hit its gold rush." "Gold rush?" My mind rushed to put the pieces together. Hazel was obviously greed in this scheme. And her father was Pluto, Roman god of riches, minerals, and metals.

No, I almost had it, the answer was just outside my reach. There were too many beings related to greed though. "And if you ask me" The bartender started ranting, starting to go on about how Hazel's family was cursed, but I tuned it out. I had heard this part of the story too many times. I couldn't see the other demigods this time, they were hidden in the throng of bodies. I couldn't even see Luke. I slowly circled the room, completely out of it, before my eyes caught on something. I frowned, starting to focus again, trying to figure out what had gained my interest.

Dark eyes bored holes into me from across the room, the owner standing in the shadows, leaning up against the far wall. Nico just stood there, watching me. How could that be the kid I had saved? I hadn't even known him for an hour, but seeing him now felt wrong. He shouldn't have ended up like this. _All your fault_. I shivered, trying to block out the voice, trying to block out the screams. That wasn't who I was anymore. _All dead_. I shook my head angrily, trying to get rid of the pain and sorrow. Things needed to be fixed. I had to make up for what had happened to Nico.

I still remembered that night, watching his sister turn to stone, watching him run into the woods. I remember the smoke, the fire, the pain, the storm, the blood. So much blood.

"Hey."

I started, Riptide's pen snapping back into my palm of my hand, only to relax as Luke slid into the stool beside me. I glanced back in Nico's direction, but the shadows were empty again. Nico was gone.

"Hey yourself." I said, turning my focus to the blonde.

"So I found out some news about a gold rush, a bunch of 'gold' material suddenly rushing through town. Gold plates, gold goblets, gold coins, gold stereos, gold vases. Eavesdropped a group of older guys, they say the gold isn't natural, too perfect, to smooth, like it was carved by the gods." "It has to do with Hazel. She's the daughter of Pluto, god of Riches, it links back to greed. Too perfect you said?" Luke nodded. "Carved by the gods?"

"Yup."

"Then I know who our monster is." Luke smiled in anticipation "Sweet; who do we get to kill first?" I shook my head.

"We don't get to kill anyone first. First things first, I think it's time we go have a chat with our golden girl."

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**Alright, that's out there. I hope you enjoyed. If it's worse than usual, you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know, I'm always looking to improve and it's hard to get better if you don't say anything. Hope you're intrigued and ready for the next one, and if you enjoyed this, take a look at some of my other works. Please READ AND REVIEW, have a wicked weekend!**


	6. The Golden Girl

**Disclaimer, I do not own the amazing Percy Jackson, or any of his awesome friends**

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**The Golden Girl**

Luke POV

Location-** Odyssey Cove, Half-Blood Swag**

**20 **days, **12** hours,** 37 **minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

Percy was pissed off. Every time we tried to corner Hazel or talk to her, another game would start up, and she would run back, pulling folds of money out, eager to play and win. The fact that a thick throng of moochers crowded around her, eagerly trying to nick her winnings and cheering her on didn't help one bit. It was a good thing that girl was vigilant.

She snapped at anyone who got too close to her pile of chips, cash, and trophies. She actually backhanded a girl who tried to grab one of her cards. I watched the girl carefully, watched as she won and lost, studied her face as she smiled and laughed. She had grown up like I had; poor, rejected, and careful. But something, or rather, someone, had changed that.

If Percy was right about Kronos and his whole 'seven sins' thing, then he was spot on when he had accused Hazel of being Greed. The way she raked in all her winnings, stuffing them into any available opening, stockpiling her new best friends, there wasn't much else she could be. The longer I watched her, the more I actually felt sorry for her. The girl had finally struck it rich.

She had probably went out and bought everything she had ever wanted, the careful conservative girl she had once been quickly vanishing as she experienced her freedom. She looked happy now, and honestly, I might have made the mistake of saying that she really was. But her eyes were to empty, too lost. The old girl, the real Hazel Levesque was trapped in there, buried underneath a fear of losing freedom that she never had in the first place.

It was time to change that. Percy started to make another go at whisking her away when I stood up and screamed "Drinks are on the house!" The bartender gave a 'deer-in-the-headlights' look as the crowd cheered and rushed for the bar. I grabbed Percy by the hand and ran, twisting and slipping through the crowd, emerging on the other side.

Hazel was sitting alone at a roulette table, lazily spinning the wheel.

"How long is this going to take?"

Percy shrugged worriedly and glanced back to the crowd where angry grumbles and irked shouts were starting to sound.

"I don't know, they never actually broke one of the empathy links after they made them. Everything after making the link was purely theoretical."

"Wait what? What the hell are we even doing then?"

"I'm improvising!" Percy snapped. I threw my hands out in exasperation, running a hand through my hair. Eleven years, and he was still an idiot. Go figure. The wild eyed boy slid smoothly into the seat beside Hazel, and her golden eyes snapped over to the newcomer.

"Hi I'm Percy, Percy Jackson, pleased to meet you."

"Hazel." She said, extending her hand. Percy gladly shook it, glancing back to crowd. "Listen, I heard you recently came by a large sum of gold, and-" "Not interested." Hazel waved him away. Percy frowned and pushed on.

"Actually it's kind of important, I-"

"Am not interested. You're not the first person around here to have some crazy get rich quick scheme, do you really think you're going to con me that easily?" Uh oh. I tried to move in to help out, but Percy was already trying again.

"Con you? No, that's not what-"

Hazel interrupted again, slamming her hand down on the table, toppling small piles of chips. "It's my gold, I own it fair and square, now get your own and stay the hell away from it and me." Percy clenched his fist, eyes darkening in exasperation.

"Hazel will you just-"

"Do I need to call security? Thief! He's trying to steal from me! Police! Security!" Hazel waved her hand, but the crowd was still distracted.

"I know about your curse!" Percy blurted out.

Hazel stopped waving, hand still in the air, and gave Percy a disgusted look. "My curse? Did my friends put you up to this? I saw how they get when I finally got a little money, those greedy little moochers aren't going to get any of it." Percy shook his head.

"No, I'm talking about the one that lets you see the things that no one else can." Hook.

Hazel froze, eyes wide. "I really don't want your money Hazel. No one put me up to this, and I'm not here to con you or humiliate you, I'm trying to help you." "How do you know about me seeing things? I didn't tell anyone about that."

"I know about it, because I can see them too." Line.

"You can?" Percy nodded. "I really need to talk to you Ms. Levesque, and it's not safe here. I need you to trust me I promise I'll explain everything. Will you do that?" Hazel nodded. Sinker.

Not bad for such a bad start. Percy helped Hazel up, the girl unable to take her eyes off of him. "The Shoebox is just down the road, it'll be safe there, come on." I scoffed at that, but followed the pair nonetheless out of the club. The Shoebox. A shoebox would have been bigger that that stupid excuse for an apartment dad had given us. Probably would have smelled better to.

I glanced back as the small riot at the bar turned into a full on brawl, chuckling before letting the door slam shut. We led Hazel back through town to the apartment complex; a small gray, one story building with only six rooms. I jogged ahead and pulled out my key, throwing open the door for the other two. "Put up some wards while I get her settled." Percy ordered, taking Hazel to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes, but obliged. I grabbed the backpack, digging around inside until I found a small container, holding three small sticks of chalk and went back outside, getting to work.

No place was ever safe for demigods, not even Olympus (the probability of ticking off a god and getting turned into a flower or worse was a little too high for anyone's liking). But there were things we could do to protect ourselves. Wards were one of the more powerful methods. Symbols of magic and Mist from Hecate allowed for various levels of protection. I put up as many as I could remember; a pure defensive ward to act as a shield, a mist ward to hide whatever non mortal activity that could be see, a monster ward to bury our demigod scent, an alarm ward to give us a warning, tripwire, confusion, mirror wards and more.

When I was finally done, I had used up two of our three chalk sticks, but it was worth it. We were safe from most dangers now, only an all-out assault by an army of monsters, a titan, or a god could get in. I just wished we could use the symbols more, protect the whole town. But it wasn't to be. The chalk sticks were made by Hecate herself, using moon dust and pure Mist, with powers beyond comprehension, and probably sanity as well, getting more wouldn't be easy. And besides, unless you were a child of Hecate herself, you would never be able to use them on anything larger than our miniscule haven. I walked back into the house in time to hear Percy wrapping up the unfortunate story of our lives.

I had caught bits and pieces through the door, hearing him explain how we were demigods, point out the monsters, and assure Hazel that she wasn't cursed or crazy, and even show her her own file, explaining why we were here. I wasn't positive, but I'm was pretty sure the fact that we were both considered dangerous, no good traitors, criminals, and scumbags by most of the 'good' world just happened to slip his mind as he concluded his speech. Hazel leaned back in her chair, tapping a bottled water Percy had given her against the countertop as she stared off into space. Percy glanced over at me, sending me a quick flurry of hand movements. _All done?_

I nodded, glancing back at the daughter of Pluto. Noticing our gazes, Hazel blushed and looked back down. "Sorry, it's just… you know." "A lot to take in?" I asked. Hazel nodded. Percy chuckled, reclining against the counter. "Believe me, we know how it feels. Take your time." Another few minutes went by before Hazel looked up, a guilty expression on her face.

"I really want to believe you, and I do, but I can't help feeling I'm being punked or something. I mean, I could have just been seeing things. Is there any way to prove all this?" Hazel hadn't even finished her sentence when Percy snapped out Riptide and tossed the pen to her.

"Go ahead, take off the top. Watch your fingers though."

Hazel cautiously grabbed the pen cap and gave it a sharp tug. I couldn't help laughing when the pen instantly morphed into Riptide, watching as she dropped the glowing blade, letting out a gasp of surprise. Percy bent down, snatching up his sword and capping it again, before tucking it away in one of his pockets. Hazel was opening her mouth to speak when Percy stretched out his hand. The water bottle Hazel had put down when she caught the pen suddenly levitated into the air, the water inside churning and bubbling, pushing the water into the air and towards him, happily heeding the son of Poseidon's call. The bottle floated into his outstretched hand, and Percy twisted off the cap, before pouring it out.

The water stayed in midair, floating and pulsing. Percy flexed his fingers, and the water shifted, and seconds later, a few dolphins made entirely of water were twisting and spinning through the air. Hazel stared with wide eyed wonder as the dolphins circled the room, elegantly looping through the air, before coming to a sudden collision in front of her, binding together into words to say 'Believe Hazel'. Even I was staring in amazement as Percy held out the empty bottle, pulling the water back out of the air and into it, before twisting the cap back on.

The level of control he had just used had been incredible. Back when we had been together, Percy had only been able to make crude constructs, and even then had had issues in forcing them to maintain a constant form. Hazel let out a squeal. "That was incredible! I can't believe it that was just- wow!" Percy smiled proudly, before Hazel looked at her own hands. "I'm a demigod too, does that mean I can do that?" Percy shook his head. "No, I get that from my dad. You're dad's different, remember?" Hazel nodded, looking glum.

"Yeah, Pluto. Big whoop."

I laughed again, wondering what her dear old dad was thinking now. "You're a kid of the big three Haze, that is a pretty big whoop actually. Pluto's the god of Underworld, darkness, the earth, and riches. You just found out you're a demigod, just wait, I bet you'll have all kinds of crazy abilities in no time." Hazel beamed happily.

"Thanks Percy. This is all really amazing. And you're saying most people in town are demigods? Who else, anyone I know? Are we going to tell them?"

Percy nodded, then shook his head.

"Yeah, most of the town is made up of demigods. But we're not going to tell them that they are. Or at least not yet. Being a demigod and not knowing is dangerous, but being a demigod and knowing that you are one is way worse. For now we're just going to leave things be. And like I said, we're on a mission, and specifically, we have to save some of you who have been linked with the monsters. I'll get back to that in a second. What was the other question?" "The others, who are they?"

Percy closed his eyes for a second, a tired look on his face. He and Hazel had been talking for a long time, for the already questionable amount of brainpower Percy had, he must be getting tired. "There's you, Piper, Frank, Annabeth, Leo, and Jason."

"And Nico."

I added. Percy's eyes flashed angrily at me for a moment, only to throw back on a smile as Hazel glanced to him. "Nico? He's my cousin, I might be able to help you talk to him. I know Frank and Jason, we used to hang out before things started happening. I don't know the others."

"Cool" I smiled down at Hazel, earning a slight blush "That'll help a lot. But right now let's focus on you."

Hazel nodded, looking back to Percy. "You were talking about Saturn-Kronos I mean, sorry, instinct I guess. Anyways, you said he hooked monsters up to us? Well I don't want a monster in my head, I already have to deal with enough, let's get it out." Percy hesitated.

"Here's where it gets a little tricky" He admitted "I know all about how the bond is made, what happens if the demigod is killed, how to extort the bond, and how to establish them, but I didn't stick around long enough for them to find out how to destroy the bond. But, I do remember the studies they did, so I'm going to try my best. But the problem Hazel, is that you can't just want to get rid of the bond. In fact, you're the only one who can get rid of it."

"How?"

"Don't take offense, but in the sequence that Kronos went with, your match up with Greed. And from what I've seen of your psych evaluation, it's definitely a problem. Whenever you get anything- money, food, books, toys, anything- you hoard it, and then you go after more. You won't stop until you have more than anyone else, because you never had much to start with, you want to feel secure, safe. And there's nothing wrong with feeling safe. But that want, that need for more; that's how this happened. And for you to get rid of the link, you're going to have to get rid of that want."

Hazel stared down at her new designer shoes. "It's not that bad…" She said, trying to argue. A few seconds of silence went by before she looked up, guiltily. "You're right. I didn't have much growing up. And now I have this, this itch. I've lost a lot of stuff over the years, I had to be the responsible person, I had to help keep things going, I had to support my mom when things went bad. And because I had to give up all that stuff, I always wanted for there to be a day when I would finally be like all those rich folks, the ones who have everything they wanted and more. And whenever I do get something, I do kinda go a little… overboard." I raised an eyebrow.

"You accused us of trying to con and steal from you in less than a minute."

Hazel chuckled nervously. "How'd you get the money anyways? Are you the one with all the gold?" Hazel shook her head. "No, all the gold comes from my work." "You're work?" "Yeah, I'm the cashier at the Golden Touch Pawn Shop. My boss is loaded, and way to nice. He's got a whole room full of pure gold, he's got it made into perfect replicas of everything. Gold TV's, gold phones, gold picture frames, rings, coins, lamps, hubcaps, tables, bowling balls. They had a guy come check it out a while ago, and it's all totally legit. It's insane. I'm not sure if he's crazy or hitting on me, probably both, because I get paid roughly nine hundred bucks an hour."

I let out a low whistle.

"I wouldn't mind a job like that. How often are you at the club? Because you spent a lot more than nine hundred, and somehow I doubt your boss came before that siren."

"Siren?"

"The singer. She's the reason why everyone stays there, or keeps coming back, we weren't sure."

Hazel shrugged her shoulders.

"The band rests for two hours every day, always at four and five. It's funny, I always feel like I'm in a daze when I leave after that. And my boss pays in cash at the end of each day, so I've been kind of going wild. And with all the luck I've been getting at the games…" "That wasn't luck." I said. Hazel and Percy looked at me questioningly.

"You're Greed. Your boss and Kronos don't want you to stop being that aspect, they want to you to be as greedy and defensive as possible. So the more you win, the more you have, the more you want, the more aggressive you get." "So how do I stop being greed? I mean, I don't want to be like that. But I can't help it. Being in here is like getting a breath of fresh air, I can see what I've been doing, and I can't believe that was me." I had to agree with her. How do you stop being greedy? Wanting more is just another base mortal reaction, you couldn't really help it. Percy thought for a while before saying "You have to be happy with what you have. Yeah, it's ok to want more and to get more, but you need to find a way to suppress that 'itch'. You control that, you control your greed, and it doesn't control you."

"It can't be that easy." Hazel said.

Percy sighed, throwing up his hands, looking to me tiredly. I stepped in, a plan already coming into being.

"How much money do you have on you?"

Hazel looked startled, for a second, before reaching into her purse, emptying its contents along with her pockets. "Three, one, two, twenty… Three thousand one hundred twenty dollars and sixty nine cents." Damn…

"How would you like to double that?"

Hazel twitched, eyes appraising me hungrily, while Percy interjected. "Um Luke? We're trying to get rid of her greed, not make it worse."

"Can it Percy. What do say?"

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked, her whole manner returning to the Hazel we had met at the club. "Dice. There's a set in the backpack, first person to get a seven or eleven wins. Winner takes all."

"Luke I don't think-"

"Bring it." Hazel said. I smiled, grabbing a pair of dice Hermes had thrown in there. I shook them up and threw them down, only for Hazel to snatch them up. "You wouldn't mind if I check them? Just in case of course?"

I smiled warmly. "Of course."

Hazel tested out the die, weighing them in her hand, before tossing them out. Six and three. While she was distracted I signed out a quick message. _Trust me. _"They seem clean. Sleeves up, no cheating." "Same goes for you." I said, rolling up my jacket sleeves. Hazel rolled again. Five and four. I rolled. Two and six. Hazel rolled. Four and four. I shook my hand, blowing through my fingers and rolled. The dice rolled, spinning on the table, and for a brief second there was a four and three. And then gravity claimed its prize. Four and two.

Hazel smiled and rolled. "Six thousand two hundred forty one dollars and thirty eight cents huh? I could just roll around in that for hours." Five and five. We kept going, and I started getting lower and lower numbers, while Hazel pushed forward, always getting one more, or one less than our targets. Before I realized what I was doing, I was praying to my dad as I rolled the dice. Five and two. For a split second, my mind sent a thank you out to my father before I crushed it, righteous anger spewing curses up at him.

Percy let out a sigh of relief, and I smiled happily as I pulled in the raw cash. Hazel stared down in a daze. "But… my money." "My money actually." Hazel stared at my pile hungrily. "Double or nothing." She demanded. We played again. This time I got an eleven on my first role. "I accept checks." I said with a smile. Hazel frowned, her knuckles going white with strain as she gripped the countertop. "What do you think Percy? Should I give her one more chance?" Percy nodded, and gave me a small smile. Something inside of me clicked as he smiled, something that made me realize that he was doing exactly what I had asked. Trusting me. And that made me feel something, something I didn't want to feel, especially for him, especially not again.

"You doing ok Hazel?" I asked, forcing myself to go back to the task at hand. She nodded mutely, and I smile smugly. From the expression on her face, this wouldn't take much longer. "You know, I really like those shoes. Maybe I'll get Percy to do a strip tease in them for me later. What do you say? My newly acquired fortune against your shoes?" Hazel grabbed the dice and rolled. When we finished our game, I tossed the pair of designer shoes to Percy with a wink. Percy glared at me while I turned back to Hazel. "He'd look pretty good in that jacket of your to. Or are you all done?"

Hazel was not all done. And four games later, I had a beautiful gold and black metallic short sleeved jacket, old and black Capri pants, a low neckline sleeveless gold and black glitter designer top, and socks (Guess what colors!). Hazel was huffing and puffing angrily beside me, now only left in her bra and panties, tantalizing dark skin exposed for everyone to see. "Bra for it all." She demanded. "As you wish beautiful" I said happily. I glanced over to Percy, who had of course averted his eyes, an angry scowl on his face.

"Get me a mirror."

Percy gave me a lost look, before understanding suddenly dawned upon his face, and he rushed to the bathroom. I heard clinks and clangs as he hastily tried to pry the bathroom mirror off the wall while I turned back to Hazel and offered her the dice. Hazel snatched them out of my hand and threw them. Five and five. I rolled. Three and five. Come on, I just needed our luck to last for one more second. Just until Percy got back with that mirror. Hazel sputtered in disbelief as I rolled another seven. She was shaking as she slowly looked up at me, face blank.

"You know, for starting off so badly, this days actually getting better and better." I said. I couldn't help the lecherous smile that spread across my lips, and held out my hand expectantly. Hazel stared at it uncomprehendingly for a few seconds, before remembering the bet. She slowly reached to unhook her bra. I was actually annoyed when Percy suddenly ran in carrying the mirror.

"Hazel!"

Hazel stopped in her actions, looking up as Percy whirled the mirror around. Hazel stared into her own reflection, not understanding what she was seeing. "Greed's impossible to get rid of. It's always going to be there, no matter what, always whispering in your ear. But there's a great way to get yours under control. Have you ever heard of the term scared straight?"

Hazel didn't answer. She was just staring in shock at her own reflection, the realization of how much she had just done, and had almost done catching up to her. Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she covered her mouth, small sobs coming out.

"You have serious problems Hazel. And you're going to have to work on them and resist them you're whole life, because that itch you were talking about? Look at what it just did to you. This is a nice little spoiler for where you're life's headed, because Kronos and his lackey's aren't going to stay in this town forever, and when they do, all the people they've been bribing to let you win and all the money they've been giving you is going to leave with them. You're going to get desperate, and this is going to be what happens. Except, when it does happen, people like Percy and I aren't going to be there to save you or just let you off easy. Is that really what you want?"

Hazel collapsed into a heap, sobbing and shaking. Percy set the mirror down, grabbing the blanket he had brought out with him earlier in the morning and draping it over her. He whispered to her, and the two talked, a conversation that was either too tear racked or quiet for me to ever understand. When they finished talking, Percy handed Hazel back her clothes. She sniffled one last time, wiping her cheek, slowly pulling her apparel back on. It was a good thing she didn't' wear makeup, her cheeks were tearstained and her eyes were red and puffy.

When she finally stood back up, she looked different. She still looked like the small unsure girl as usual, but something had changed. Determination and strength poured out of her. This Hazel was the real Hazel, the one Kronos and his goons had managed to bury.

"No." She said. Seeing my questioning look she explained "That's not what I want. I know what I want now. I want this."

Hazel motioned around us.

"I want your life. I want to be able to help people. Even if I'm not fighting monsters or saving the world, I want to help. I want to help others like you helped me." Percy smiled proudly and gave me a thumbs up before turning to Hazel. "Welcome to the gang Haze." He said, giving Hazel a big hug. Hazel eagerly accepted, crying again, but this time out of happiness. I hung back, feeling suddenly empty. When Hazel looked over, I managed to force a quick smile, before going back to brooding.

"Whoa!" Hazel exclaimed.

We all looked over in time to see a golden cord appear out of thin air. The cord glowed, going straight through the wall moving as Hazel moved her arm. Why was she holding it, and where had it come from? It took me a few seconds to realize that she wasn't holding this end of the cord, it was stuck in the center of her palm, strings twining around her fingertips and back into the glowing rope. "What is it?"

Percy smiled excitedly, racing forward. He waved his hand through it, his smile growing as his hand went through, before snatching Hazel's own hand, and staring into her eyes.

"Looks like my info was right. This is the link Hazel, as physical as it's ever going to get. Now is when you have your opportunity to get rid of it."

"How?" She asked.

"You have to pull it out. It might be painful, I don't know, but if you're going to be free you have to do it. Come on, you're so close!"

Hazel looked unsure for a moment, before she steeled herself and took a deep breath. When she reached for the glowing cord, her hand made contact, and she was able to wind it around her other hand. She gave it a hard yank, but ended up just pulling her arm again. She frowned angrily and started pulling hard, forcing her hands apart. She let out a pained cry, the cord going slack for a moment, but after a few deep breaths again. Hazel started sweating, teeth gritted in concentration and pain, while the cord started glowing, the gold color turning molten. With a final anguished cry, Hazel gave a final tug, and the cord snapped out of her hand. For a split second, it stayed in her hand, the molten color growing brighter and brighter, before it finally just dissolved, blowing away in an invisible draft.

Hazel let out a gasp of relief and stumbled back, getting caught by my just before she hit the ground. Seconds later, she was asleep, eyes closed peacefully, a triumphant smile on her lips. I glanced back up at Percy.

"That was... something."

Percy nodded. "Now that we know how this works, it'll be a whole lot easier. And besides that, look at how strong she was. She didn't even know about our world a few hours ago, and now just look at her. She's going to be an amazing demigod. Come on, let's get her into bed."

Percy and I carried her back into our room. I started when I realized that the room had actually gotten bigger, and another bed had popped up. We carried her to the new bed, Percy commenting on the new room, before heading back into the main area. Percy grabbed a piece of paper and quickly scrawled out a message, glancing up to say "If they only stop at four and five then she hasn't slept in a while. Combined with the fun afternoon she had, I'm going to guess that she'll be out for a few hours now. Get your gear ready, we have a mission."

I glanced back at the microwave clock as Percy took the note back to our room, starting when I realized that it was already nine o'clock at night. That had taken a lot longer than expected. Percy emerged, snapping the wristwatch the Guardians had given him on the opposite wrist as his manacle, before stopping dead.

"Luke, when did we get a closet?"

I frowned and turned around. There beside the mini fridge and just before the front door, was a brand new door. We cautiously approached, Percy brining out Riptide in case this was an ambush, and threw open the door.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." I said with a smile.

The newly created room was an enormous walk in closet. Weapons lined the walls and hung from the ceiling, armor stood ready for use, ammunition stood in neat piles, shields waited in a neat row, and a table with what looked like enchanted weaponry stood in the center of the closet. A small paper had been stabbed into the table with a knife. Upon further instruction, the ash like paper had a single message written in crazy scrawl.

"Protect my daughter, torture her tormenter, defeat my father, I'll see you in hell."

Percy and I exchanged glances. "Thank you Uncle Pluto." Percy finally said uncomfortably. Neither of us wanted to think about the last part of that message. So the gods could give stuff like this to us? Maybe he was the one who had put in the extra bed as well.

"Come on, get suited up." Percy ordered, examining the rest of the closet.

In the end I threw away my leather jacket in favor of lightweight armor, grabbing a shield and strapping my sword and dagger to belt. Percy was wearing something similar when we were both done, except he had wired through headphones, carefully hiding their cord and the IPod itself in the armor, looping the earplugs carefully so he could use them. He didn't catch my questioning gaze, ignoring me. I gave up on why he had them, before finally giving in and asking

"So her boss is loaded, has a gold fetish, owns a pawn shop, and has greed beyond comprehension."

"Wait you haven't figured out who it is yet?"

I shook my head, annoyed that someone who was usually so slow had already figured it out.

Percy smiled smugly. "Where are my manners? It's already late, and I think it's time I introduce you to a friend of mine. Let's go see how dear King Midas is handling these days."

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**Hope you enjoyed it, I felt I did a pretty good job here actually (which probably means it sucked, but who cares), anyways hope you're ready, cuz next up they're getting to the fight! Anyways, as always, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, you actually like this story, or any other random thing, please READ AND REVIEW, reviews REALLY help motivation and the writing process. Anyways, thanks a lot everybody, I hope you have a great day!**


	7. Avaritia vs Caritas

**Disclaimer, I don't own Percy Jackson or any of his awesome friends**

* * *

**Avaritia vs Caritas**

Luke POV

Location-** Odyssey Cove, The Golden Touch Pawn Shop**

**20 **days, **1** hours,** 2 **minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

Odyssey Cove was practically a ghost town by the time Percy and I made our way out. After taking care of Hazel and suiting up, Percy had proceeded to use some of our remaining chalk on the door to our bedroom, as well as the window.

"We can't let the demigods get hurt at this stage. I don't know how far along the bonding process is, and if Midas kills her now, the process could just keep going until he gains her godly powers. Now when we get there-"

"Whoa, slow down speed racer. You're saying if the freaks go and kill off our demigods their linked to, the whole destruction of the world thing still happens?"

Percy nodded grimly.

"If they're in the last phases of the link, then yeah. Even after death they'll still be letting power slip back into a living host, in this case, their links. Right now though, Midas is vulnerable. Hazel already severed her end of the bond, and when we get his end, then the bond will be broken forever. As far as the others are concerned though… I just don't know."

I nodded hesitantly "Ok. So just how do we kill them now? And don't say it's complicated, honestly how hard is it to put a sword through some monsters head?"

Percy smirked a little before shaking his head. "Actually that's basically all we have to do."

"Wait really?"

Percy nodded, then shrugged his shoulders. "Well, basically. Like I said, this far along they might be too powerful, they'll instantly respawn if we kill them the normal way."

Percy suddenly looked uncomfortable, leaning against the wall and studying his shoes intently.

"Back when I was with Kronos, I asked the Telekhine's about the weaknesses, trying to find ways to… to protect them. There was only one thing that can really get rid of the monster on the other side of this link."

"Decapitation?"

"No."

"Stake through the heart?"

"No."

"Looking at you?"

"Luke…"

I chuckled, smiling innocently back at him.

"The only way to defeat them is to weaken them and force them into a Tartarus symbol."

"Tartarus has a symbol? I didn't think you could draw pure insanity."

Percy bent over the counter, scribbling a strange half circle, before moving over a few inches, making a strange circle, and then moving again, and again. In the end, there were six strange lines and swirls, all carefully spaced away from each other.

"That's… weird. It's going to take a while to make something like that."

Percy shook his head saying "No, you combine them all together. The problem is that the symbol is literally part of Tartarus; once it's completely assembled, whether you want one or not, you have an instant one way portal to the deepest pit of hell, and it won't close until something goes in."

I whistled. "Sounds like loads of fun for the whole family. Just a sec, let me check it out."

I studied the scribbles, trying to piece them all together in my head to make one symbol. Weaken the freak and then send them packing on a one way trip to Tartarus. Not too shabby.

"Alright, seems easy enough. Any other fun surprises I should know about?"

Percy paused for a second, thinking hard. "Probably, but I can't think of anything. For now just remember who we're going up against. This is King Midas, everything he touches will turn to gold, ourselves included. Running water undoes the effect, so stick close to me and we should be ok. Oh yeah, and the guys ancient, but he's _really_ fast."

I nodded, heading for Main Street with Percy in tow. The streets were just as abandoned as usual, and darkness was already thick in the air, the silence almost deafening. I glanced back when we reached the road, watching closely as I asked "So how do you know the old geezer?" Percy's eyes snapped over to me, a guarded look in his eyes. I already knew the answer, but with so few pieces to this whole puzzle, a confirmation was helpful.

"He supported Kronos' army financially. Sold gold to buy weapons, land, soldiers, anything. All so he could have a chance to get his 'revenge' on the gods."

We walked in silence after that, Percy staring straight ahead, eyes stormy and brooding. I wasn't used to that look. I had only seen it a few times when we were together, back in the old days. It only came out when Percy started to feel unbalanced, when Percy was really on edge, when there were too many things going on inside that head of his. I could still clearly remember the last time I had seen that look. What had it been, ten, eleven years ago?

We were staying in some crummy hotel by a river; Percy always slept better when he was near water. Grover was still traveling with us at that point, curled up on the couch, a half chewed tin can in his hand, snoring loudly. Percy had been bundled up all in blue blankets, curled up beside me, staring up at the ceiling, biting his lip. His eyes had been just as moody as they were now, an ocean under dark skies, waves crashing anxiously under danger of a coming storm.

I kept tossing and turning, trying to ignore the horrible idea to see what was wrong, before finally giving in. I had sighed and sat up, glaring sleepily at the kid.

"What's up Perce?"

Percy glanced over to me uncertainly, biting his lip harder now.

"Come on, I know something's wrong. You can talk to me about it."

Percy wavered, and I took advantage of the moment, pulling him close. "Come on squirt, spit it out or else I'll start tickling you."

I poked his side threateningly and Percy let out an unintentional snort, before desperately trying to squirm away.

"Oh no you don't!"

I crawled after him, tackling him into the bed and attacking him, laughing as Percy started laughing uncontrollably.

"Alright, alright, I give!" Percy struggling out of my grasp, trying not to smile. I leaned back, waiting patiently. Percy's smile slowly faded, and the angst crawled back in. "I'm just worried. I've been having these nightmares." Ah. That explained everything. Yet another fun perk of being as powerful as the young demigod was. He may not have been an oracle, but he was more in tune with the time than anyone I had ever met.

Percy dreamed of the past, he could see how things connected and acted, he could see what was happening in the present, he could even dream of the future sometimes. Nothing more than brief glimpses of course, but Percy only ever had nightmares when it came to the future. He only saw the pain and misery that was coming to him and people he cared about.

"Percy, why didn't you tell me? I told you, whenever you get nightmares come talk to me, we're a family. We take care of each other." Percy looked away. "I didn't want to scare you." Scare me? After a long pause, Percy finally gave in. "A few days ago I saw me. I was running; I'd been running for a long time. I was dirty again, and hungry, I looked really sick. Something was chasing me. A lot of something's. And then saw me with Riptide. I looked older, a lot older. There was blood everywhere. Blood and fire. There were monsters everywhere, all around me, but they didn't hurt me. They actually ran away from me, some even tried to make sure I was ok. They were scared of me. And then last night I saw you. It was dark. I saw you getting attacked by someone. Someone really powerful, someone you hate. You were angry, you were screaming, and then they… they…" Percy sniveled, tears starting to creep out of the corners of his eyes.

I frowned, getting up and pulling him to my chest, patting his back. "It's ok Perce, I promise its ok. You're not going to get hurt or chase, and nothing's going to happen to me. I promise."

Percy looked up at me, tears in his eyes. "They stabbed you Luke! I watched you die! I don't want to lose you!"

My heart froze for a second, fear creeping in. Percy's dreams were always uncertain sometimes, and were prone to sudden change, but his nightmares were different. They almost always happened. Only once had one of Percy's nightmares come to nothing. All the others came to be. The shaking of Percy's slim body brought me back to reality, and I suddenly stopped caring. I pulled Percy into a tight hug, before pushing him away with a serious face. "Percy."

Percy stared up at me, cheeks tearstained, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably. "It's going to be ok Percy. Do you remember what I told you when we started out together?"

Percy nodded.

"What did I say?"

Percy sniveled, rubbing at his red eyes. "You said you'd always be there to protect me. You said we were family, and family doesn't let each other get hurt, and that we'd always be there for each other."

"Yeah, that's what I said. And I swear on Styx to you that I'll keep that promise. You think anything's going to keep me away from you? Come on kid, we're invincible. Thick as thieves, we're the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin, Jughead and Archie, Siegfried and Roy, and whatever other cool partners there are out there."

Percy smiled through the tears, throwing his arms around my neck. "Thanks Lukie."

I smiled, pulling us back down onto the bed and pulling the blanket over us. "Sleep tight kiddo."

Percy snuggled up beside me, nuzzling my neck. "I love you Luke."

I remembered that I had smiled and kissed his forehead. "Love you too Perce."

Things really had changed between us. But what could you expect after what I had put him through. Of course Percy's nightmare's had come true; or at least I had assumed they had. I had needed a patsy to blame the loss of the god weapons on, and Percy had played the part perfectly. That would have been around the time when Percy saw himself getting chased. As for the monsters and blood, well I could only guess that was when he had been in Kronos' army. And as for me getting killed well… That had been a fun encounter. The fact that my father had the nerve to try and talk to me after he came and stabbed me in the back, literally… I shook my head. Memories for another time. Right now we had a king to kill.

"You ready for this?" I asked, stopping abruptly. Percy flinched, startled eyes snapping back to me. He held my gaze for a long minute, before nodding. "Yeah."

"You sure?" Percy nodded. I shrugged my shoulders and kept walking. A long time ago I would have pushed the subject. But things had changed. We had changed. "So that's all we have to do from now on right? Figure out some way to get them to see the error in their ways and change? It's that easy?"

Percy shrugged his shoulders, still moody. "It was easy this time. Midas only got started here recently, the link hasn't had time to really grow. Everything depends on time emotions… there's way too many variables to even guess really. It hurts my head just thinking about it."

Percy came to a stop, and I looked for the reason, actually surprised to find us already out in front of Golden Touch Pawn Shop. The building stood out on the dull street, its paint bright and new, lights gleaming and shining. Golden bars blocked off the main entrance and all the windows, easily dissuading anyone from trying to break in.

"Alright Luke, you still got the gift?" Percy asked glancing at me. I scoffed, handing him my shield and advancing towards the building. King Midas owned the place right? Rich as hell, embodiment of greed. The guy wouldn't want anyone to get at his stuff, so he'd have one hell of a security program up and running. Now that would keep most people out, but when your daddy's the god of thieves, no building, safe, program, or wallet is safe from us.

My eyes flickered over the building, taking everything. Motion cameras were hidden on the corners of the roof and above the doorway, a laser of some kind was at ankle level in front of the door, there were panels behind the bars meant to come down in case of any real danger, some kind of nine digit security pad on the gates, and all kinds of other mortal goodies. On the flip side, dozens of chalk sigils had been laced across the building in gold, preventing thieves, stopping the gods from seeing inside, protecting gold, brining luck, all kinds of things.

The best one though was small symbols in the wall, which once activated, would start shooting lasers at the unfortunate victim. "As fun as it is just standing here do you think you could, oh I don't know, do something?" I short Percy an unimpressed look, before flashing a smile and saying "Seventeen seconds." before charging straight towards the door.

I hadn't made it three feet before one of the laser symbols activated, and a beam of light nearly bisected me. I kept running, jumping up onto the wall and running up it, grabbing a flagpole and throwing myself onto the roof. Thirteen seconds before the alarms went off and a monster army/local authorities came running, and or the laser symbols once again appeared and killed me. I ran to the edge of the room, pulling out my knife and dragging it through several symbols, the magic in the dissolving instantly. Ten seconds.

I threw myself back off the room, landing with catlike grace, running to the door. I ducked under several more laser blasts, stabbing my knife into the keypad and twisting, before hitting enter. The machine gave a feeble beep, before the gate clicked open. Six seconds. Regular keyhole. Not enough time to pick it, knife still stuck in the keypad, most likely solidly enforced to prevent being broken through. I ripped into my pocket, digging around desperately until I pulled out my enchanted Master Key. Two seconds. I stuck it in the keyhole and twisted hard.

Several clicks sounded, and I flung open the door. A small bell above the door started to chime until I grabbed it, silencing the sound and slammed my hand above the doorframe. An invisible symbol flared to life, and I gave a sigh of relief. There were too many symbols around here to activate by just one person, the only safe way to do it would be to have a single symbol controlling all the others. And what better place than just above the door, on the side where no one could get to it, and no one would think to look?

I made a grand arm flourish to Percy, waving him in with a smug grin. Percy rolled his eyes, a faint smile on his lips as he passed me. The inside of the shop strangely lacked any type of security. There weren't any cameras, there were no symbols, nothing. The man had basically wasted untold amounts of money on nothing. The shop itself was immaculate and organized, not a speck of dust anywhere, everything carefully set up and shined to perfection.

Antiques and strange objects were placed around the room, grabbing at the attention. In the room beside ours, gold was lying around everywhere. It was in display cases, it was on pedestals, it was hanging from the ceiling. I gave a whistle, my mind instinctively calculating how much money I could make from a quick taste. Gold was worth what now, around forty bucks a gram? I glanced around the room again. It may not be as much of a cash in as the god weapons, but it would still make a very nice instant retirement cushion.

"Luke!" Percy whispered, motioning for me to follow. I looked longingly back at the money, before reluctantly following after Percy. The gold would still be there after we defeated the king. Percy made his way to the back of the store, jumping behind the glass counter and heading through the doorway. The lights were turned on as we went through, coming out into a luxurious room. Priceless antiques lined the walls, paintings of gods, goddesses, heroes and monsters, sculptures and wardrobes, weapons of every shaped and size.

What looked to be a solid gold piano was at the end of a hallway into another room, but Percy went a different way. A voice muttered to itself as I followed Percy, counting then recounting again and again, before Percy stopped in front of an open doorway. In front of us was a study with a roaring fireplace studded with gold and jewels, and, sitting with his back to us at a huge table of pure gold, counting gold coins, was an old man in a nightgown.

Percy went left and I went right, cutting off any escape, and stepping up beside the old man's chair. Riptide shined in the firelight, and the next second was pressed against the old king's throat. Midas stopped muttering. He looked up, eyes wide, staring at us with surprise, before grinning slyly at Percy. He really was an old man, covered in wrinkles and gray hair, what was left of his hair hidden underneath a long nightcap. His eyes were gold, like Hazels, but didn't seem as rich or shiny, coming off as fanatic and crazed.

"Perseus!" He exclaimed, his voice oily and soft "What a dreadful surprise! I heard a rumor you died, I had been so hopeful it was true."

Percy gave a shrug. "I did. And it's just Percy, thanks. You're looking good, get another face lift?"

Midas let out a chuckle, shrugging his shoulders. "When you're as old as I am, its ok to splurge and make yourself look young again every once in a while. So my boy what have you been up to? Killed any poor, innocent children lately? Played the fun assassin role? And who's this stick of a thief. Son of Hermes if I ever saw one."

Percy pursed his lips, smiling brightly, digging Riptide into the king's throat. "I've been good thanks for asking. And yeah, this is Luke my… friend." Percy glanced up at the pause, eyes searching my face before glancing back to Midas.

Friend? We had gone from trying to kill each other, to friends? I shook my head, there was no use thinking about it. Percy had a strange sense of morals and loyalties; give it a few hours and we'll try and kill each other again.

"I gotta be honest here, I kind of expected a little more Midas. The security went down easy, you live in a small shop, and you didn't even know we were coming."

A flash of understanding went through Midas' eyes and he straightened in his chair, his look growing serious. "Shall we drop the formalities? Pretending to be nice to you hellions is aggravating, and we both know why you're here. It won't be long before Kronos knows that you're here and what you are out to achieve. Honestly, what do you hope to accomplish? You can't sever the bonds of power we hold."

Percy smiled darkly. "We already severed your bond. And I knew we could count on you Midas. I still wasn't sure if I should expect Kronos to come charging in, but thanks to you, I know he doesn't even know we're here."

Midas frowned, becoming all business. "You think you're so smart, don't you Perseus?" Midas stood up, pushing Riptide away from his throat, making his way towards the fireplace. Golden sparks danced across the blade, tinging the bronze gold before the sparks vanished, Riptides glow shining stronger than ever.

"Oh yes a demigod alpha blade. I remember the heroes in the past who've wielded it, I know its power, and more importantly, I know yours. Run now while you still have the opportunity, and you may just survive longer than your pathetic gods. You have no idea what I am capable of." I couldn't help but let out a laugh, startling Percy and Midas.

"You're going up against two of the strongest demigods in the universe, demigods with powers and skills you could never have. What can you do, turn things into gold? You think that's going to stop us?"

Midas just laughed. "Oh yes, your precious demigod abilities. Oh I know all about them. Did you know that from that wonderful bond we have with our little demigod friends, that we actually are able to drain away some of that incredible power they have?"

Midas suddenly clenched his teeth, slowly moving his arms forward. The gold and jewels that had decorated the fireplace wrenched themselves free of the stone, hovering in the air around the king, orbiting slowly in a dizzying pattern.

Percy and I took an uncertain step back as Midas smiled darkly at us, the minerals starting to spin around him at a whirlwind rate. "You think you can defeat me? Me, veritable maelstrom of avarice!"

Midas punched at the air towards us, and the precious stones flew through the air like bullets. I lifted my shield just in time to block the high speed projectiles, flinching as the banged off the shield, denting it with each blow.

I glanced over at Percy, suddenly scared, realizing that he didn't have a shield, only to see one had magically appeared on his arm in place of his wristwatch. It took me a whole other second to realize that the watch had been the shield. It was beautifully made, carved with a strange series of pictures I couldn't make out, and didn't have the time to anyways. The barrage stopped, and I lowered my shield in time to see Midas throwing open a wall, running through into a secret passage.

Music suddenly blared beside me, and I flinched, watching as Percy stuffed his headphones into his ears, the music still clearly audible, before charging after him at breakneck pace with me hot in pursuit. The passage ended up turning into a metal stairway, going directly beneath the shop, and I stopped in shock as I looked around. We were in some kind of huge basement, stretching down into the darkness. There were various levels, some concrete, some metal, all supported above the great maw leading down, and all stacked up with shelves jam-packed with gold.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and leaped down the last few stairs, running after Midas. I twisted through onto the first level of the basement, rushing past the first few stacks. I was going so fast I nearly ran into Midas, barley managing to avoid his swipe at my head. I stumbled back, crawling desperately as the old man slapped at me, trying to catch me. I swiped my sword at him, only for him to jump just out of reach, tapping it mid swing. There was a surge of gold, and the sword fell to the ground, the sudden imbalance of the weapon forcing it out of my hand. Damn Percy was right, he was fast. I rolled over, flipping back to my feet and drawing my knife, making a desperate slice at the old man, calling "Percy!"

Midas just took a step out of reach, before striking like a cobra. "Lights out." Midas said, before everything went black. I don't know how long it went on; me being turned to gold. I couldn't think, couldn't feel, I couldn't do anything.

The next thing I remembered was gasping for breath, cold water rushing over me, before falling to the ground. I felt like I had been run over by a train, and my head was ringing worse than a hangover. I forced myself up, shivering thanks to the soaking I had received. I heard clinks and clangs somewhere, and looked around, surprised to see a gaping hole in the floor, large chunks of concrete debris lying around. It looked like Midas had tried to make himself an escape route, only for Percy to catch him. I struggled over to the hole, still feeling weak.

Percy was standing in the center of a whirlwind of stone and gold, sword and shield blurring effortlessly around, blocking the blows that came from all directions, while Midas stood a few feet away, forcing more and more into the construct. I grabbed my knife and threw myself down, landing with a sick thump.

I forced myself to balance, before throwing my knife with all my might at Midas. The old man barley got out of the way in time, the blade catching his nightcap and sticking it to the wall. I stared at the old man for a second, before bursting out in laughter; the old man had donkey ears. Midas growled, and I heard the whirlwind stop as he changed his attention to me, charging forward, and arms outstretched. I froze in horror, still too dizzy and sick to move, watching as he got closer and closer.

He was only a foot away when a geyser of water collided with him, launching the old man through the air and into one of the support beams. He fell to the floor, eyes rolling and his hands slapping aimlessly around. Both the pillar and the floor suddenly groaned, gold spreading up them, trying desperately to support the sudden weight increase. Percy rushed forward, sword raised, while I straightened myself. I fell back down, a sudden dizzy spell taking over.

I groaned, only to hear a groaning reply and a crack from beside me. A chunk of concrete fell from above, cracking the already struggling floor. Another came down, crashing into a shelf full of gold. The shelf teetered back and forth, and my heart leapt to my throat as I realized that it was about to come down on top of me.

"Percy!" I called desperately, trying to crawl away. Percy was still fighting a newly revived Midas, completely oblivious to my position thanks to his blaring headphones. With a deep breath, I rolled to the side, calling on every ounce of strength I had. The shelf crashed down, its edge actually touching the tip of my nose. I breathed a sigh of relief, before giving a reproachful glance at Percy. Stupid headphones, stupid demigod, stupid Percy!

I had nearly been crushed, and the idiot wouldn't even have known. My anger died out suddenly as another shelf fell, and the floor finally gave away, large golden chunks falling away. Midas fell through to a lower floor, Percy back flipping safely away while the whole building shook, the support beams starting to give way. Percy fell back, breathing hard, eyes slightly crossed, a large red bump on his forehead. I managed to get up, walking over, momentarily pushing away my anger. I pulled out one of his headphones saying "You ok there kiddo?"

"Peachy Lukie…" Percy murmured, trying to stand only to fall back down. I walked to the edge of one hole Midas had fallen through, smiling when I saw him. The old man was already up again, bleeding and battered, trying to escape, but was stuck, his leg and nightgown stuck under a chunk of steel and concrete.

Not much time before he freed himself, but I didn't need much time. I looked around, spotting golden piece of debris roughly the size and shape of a manhole cover. I went to work, wrenching my knife free from the pillar it had been embedded in, and quickly starting to trace the symbol Percy had shown me. "Careful Luke!" Percy said, standing up, leaning awkwardly to one direction.

"Come on grab it, help me!" I ordered. Percy diligently obeyed, helping me lift the gold chunk and take it towards the hole. "Wait right there and when I saw now, let it go!" Percy nodded, and I glancing back down to where Midas was almost free. I scratched in the last few pieces of the symbol, smiling in victory.

My head exploded in pain, my sanity trying to tear itself apart as the symbol suddenly glowed bright, fear, hate, and death filling me as I stared into a brief incarnation of Tartarus itself. "Luke!" Percy shouted. I tried to listen, but I couldn't help but look, watching as the symbol suddenly started to blur together, a whirling vortex appearing in the center. Dust and small pebbles started getting sucked in, the smell of brimstone, blood, and darkness filling my nostrils. Percy let the tablet fall, shaking me roughly yelling "Luke! Come back to me dammit!"

I managed to suddenly focus again, staring into those scared sea green eyes. Scared because we could die? Scared because we had an active portal to Tartarus itself next to us, hungrily sucking things in? Or scared because he knew that I was about to let myself go, to give in and let Tartarus have me. He couldn't be scared of losing me. Not after what I had done to him. Dark light started coming from the golden slab, and I focused again, grabbing the edges and throwing it through the hole at Midas. "Hey donkey ears!"

Midas glared up face screwed up in rage and pain, before instantly turning to horror. I heard a panicked scream fill the air a second before the debris hit him, the scream instantly cut off. I gasped as a horrible tug went off inside me, feeling like the life was being sucked right out of me, before a sudden gold strand suddenly materialized, zipping through the air, before coiling around me and sinking in, vanishing in a blink of light. I didn't have time to worry about what had just happened, because the next second, the golden portal exploded with light, and Percy and I were launched up into the darkness, heading back towards the room, trying to become pancakes once again.

Debris saved us, the explosion ripping a whole into the real basement, allowing us to soar up, before falling back down, gratefully away from the brand new hole in the ground. Percy and I coughed and spluttered, dust thick in the air, the building above collapsed, the basement around us ruined. We managed to heave ourselves up, looking around in the darkness for a way out.

"Did we do it?" I asked, coughing hard, trying to breathe again.

Percy tried to respond, only to hack up a lung, struggling to even think about breathing, instead opting to just give me a thumbs up and an attempted smile. I gave my best shout for victory, before trying to make my way towards a doorway, trying to get out of this deathtrap. I had to force the door open, debris was blocking it. The entire shop above us had seemingly imploded while we were below, nothing remaining of the shop except for skeletal ruins and crushed antiques.

I made my way out into the open, taking a deep breath, smiling triumphantly as I glanced around. Percy followed suit, actually jumping up and down. "We did it!" He shouted up at the sky, a proud smile on his face. I watched as he closed his eyes, still smiling, fingering the trident symbol on his manacle. Probably some lame prayer to his dad no doubt.

I gave a grunt of disinterest, smiling myself over our triumph, before a sudden though hit me. I whipped around, eyes flashing through the ruins, smile vanishing. I raced to the side, desperately digging through the stone and junk, clawing through useless trash.

"What's wrong Luke?"

"The gold, where's the gold? The room was full of it, did some lucky bastard already get to it?"

"Luke, everything gold Midas made is probably gone. His greed isn't here anymore, so the powers gone."

I froze before slowly looking up at the sky. I could already hear the gods laughing, smiling mischievously at me and my continued misfortune. For a second, I even saw one of the stars above blink, almost as if someone up there was winking me, mocking my loss. "Oh screw you." I muttered turning away.

Percy just laughed. "We did good Luke. You did good."

* * *

**Yeah, so um... Here's a chapter! Yeah it wasn't great, but it's something! Yeah, I can't even feel good about it. Ok, so hope you enjoyed, please read and review, if you have comments, questions, or concerns, don't be afraid to ask, I love when people like what I do, it helps the quality of the work and definitely helps moral. Speaking of that, special shoutout to Light of Redemption, thanks for commenting, hope you liked it! Good morning/afternoon/night!**


	8. Bad Omens

**Own Percy Jackson, I do not, wish though, I do**

* * *

**Bad Omens**

Nico POV

Location-** Odyssey Cove, The Golden Touch Pawn Shop Ruins**

**19 **days, **23** hours,** 47 **minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

I was perched on the edge of the roof, shrouded in shadows. The wind was cold and sharp, biting at any piece of skin it could find, whipping its fingers through my dark mane of hair. I pulled my aviator jacket closer, glaring across the street, waiting. **He** had gone in there a little while ago with his blonde lackey at his side. There had been crashes and explosions, an earsplitting boom, and I had even felt a sharp tug in my gut as something dark, something Underwordly had occurred beneath the building. The pawn shop had collapsed in on itself, but I knew that wouldn't stop him from coming back. Almost on cue, I saw movement in the rubble.

I leaned forward, ignoring the dizzying drop below, watching as the blonde pushed open a door to the now exposed basement, moving debris out of the way and struggling to make it to the surface. **He** was right behind him. I heard them laugh before the blonde whined, yelling something about lost gold, earning laughter from my nemesis. I had no idea what he was doing here, or what he had really just done, but it didn't matter. I had been waiting six years for this, for the time when he'd come back into my life. Six years I had been waiting to get my revenge. He was weak now, vulnerable, but I didn't move as he started walking away. I had been waiting for a long time. I'd wait a little longer.

My 'Hero' would die on my terms, and only after I was good and ready. I heard them mention getting back to my cousin, Hazel, and let out an unintentional growl. So Hazel was with them, working with the enemy. Fine, I didn't need her anyway. I willed the shadows around me, and the darkness instantly swallowed me up. The next second the shadows faded away, and I was standing in the middle of an abandoned barn. I had found the desolate building on the outskirts of town, close enough to give a damn, far enough away not to care.

The building was still falling apart, but I had turned it into my makeshift lair. I kept my sword here; a stygian iron blade, black as pitch and cold as ice. It had just appeared under my bed one day, no note, no explanation, nothing. It stayed here because the Levesque's, my legal guardians, didn't exactly approve. Not that I really cared. The only reason I stayed in that wreck was to be with Hazel. When I was with her, it was almost as though I had Bianca back. And now that she had turned traitor, it looked like I was back on my own. At least here I could practice my powers and train without distractions. The last six years hadn't been easy for me. Nobody believed me when I said my sister had been turned into a statue and that my school had been blown up by monsters and a twofaced traitor. I had been picked up by social services and shipped off to live with my closest relatives, Hazel's family.

I loved Hazel instantly, but it wasn't easy living. The family was dirt poor, barely scraping by at best. I had found my powers during that time, my connection to the dead, my power over the shadows. Six years I had spent, digging into the past of Percy Jackson, trying to find out where he was, why he had been at my school, and trying to find a way to get at him. A low growl came from the other side of the room, and I smiled, patting my leg and whistling. A monster of a hellhound emerged from the shadows, eyes narrowed, fangs bared, hair raised.

"Down O'Leary." I ordered.

The huge dog eyed me for a few seconds, before slowly lowering itself to the ground. I walked over to the wall, opening up a closed wooden panel. Photos and newspapers were congregated onto it, all about Perseus. Everything I had learned about him, what he did, where he came from, what he had done before I met him. It was more pictures and half-baked speculation than anything else, but it was better than nothing. I grabbed a picture of my _hero_ smiling, and walked back to my Hellhound. It had taken a lot to find a killer monster to work for me, let alone train it, but in the end I had succeeded. I reached into my pocket, pulling out my prize possession, a picture of Bianca and me together at the Maine Day Fair.

I held it up, showing it to Mrs. O'Leary. The Hellhound panted loudly, showing no emotion. I carefully tucked the picture away and then held up the smiling Perseus. Mrs. O'Leary growled, fire burning in her eyes, fangs gnashing angrily.

"Kill." I ordered, tossing the picture away.

Mrs. O'Leary gave a vicious bark, bounding after it, ripping the paper to shreds. "Good girl." I murmured, making my way to the back of the barn to a makeshift bed at the back. It was late, and I had lost enough sleep watching and waiting for Perseus to get here. I was almost there when a sudden wave of nausea struck, and I struggled to stay upright. I took a few steps, darkness clawing at my vision, before I collapsed forward onto the bed, the nausea overtaking everything else and the darkness taking over. I curled into a ball, forcing my hands over my eyes, trying to alleviate the pain.

After a few minutes, the pain faded away, and I started, realizing that I was wet. There was a constant boom of thunder up above, and water cascaded down onto me. I frowned, knowing that I had fixed the roof ages ago, and managed to open my eyes. I wasn't in my lair anymore. I was in a dark ally, surrounded by enormous buildings. The sky was dark and stormy, rain barreling down, lightning and thunder playing around in the air. I walked down to the end of the alley cautiously, trying to ignore my wet clothes and freezing skin, instead trying to figure out what was going on. The streets around me were abandoned and quiet, the area feeling deserted and desolate.

I tried to shadow travel back, but the shadows ignored my call. I glanced around again, my eyes snapping to the enormous building in the distance; the empire state building. How had I gotten to New York? A powerful roar came from somewhere in the distance, and I whipped around, hand reaching instinctively to my belt, only to realize with a start that my blade wasn't there.

Footsteps sounded suddenly close, and I whirled around to see a woman dashing towards me, a young boy in her eyes. They looked tired and dirty, their clothes in shambles, a well-worn rain poncho covering them both. The woman was breathing heavily, and as she got closer, she stumbled, falling to the ground. I flinched as they hit the ground, the woman turning around to take the blunt of the fall, crying out as her and the kid gave a cry of pain.

The hood of the poncho was thrown off, revealing a messy mop of brown hair and terrified blue eyes. The kid struggled to his feet, his own hood thrown off, ebony hair soaked, his whole body shivering as he helped the woman up.

"I'm scared mommy." The boy whispered, shaking more than ever now.

The woman gave the boy a heartbroken look, before smiling gently and putting her hands on the boy's shoulders, looking at him lovingly.

"It's going to be ok Percy, I promise. We just got to keep moving baby."

Percy? No, that couldn't be… My train of thought derailed as the little boy turned around, big sea green eyes looking around the deserted street. It was him. It was Perseus. A young Perseus, but it was him. What was going on? The young Perseus nodded, grabbing his mother's hand and tugging her along, the two desperately trying to get away from something. Another roar erupted, this time only a few buildings away.

The woman glanced around, eyes looking desperate, tears coming from her eyes. She suddenly turned away, taking Perseus towards me, down the alley. As soon as she was out of sight, she kneeled down, looking Perseus in the eye.

"Percy, baby, I need you to listen to me. You know mommy loves you right?"

Perseus nodded slowly. The woman let out an unintentional sob, and the young boy frowned. "What's wrong mama?"

The woman rubbed the tears out of her eyes, only for them to instantly reappear, combining with the raindrops.

"Well sweetie, I need you to listen to me very carefully. You know the river? The one just down the road? Well I need you to go there. I want you to go as fast as you can, don't stop until you get there. Once you get to the river, say your name and say that your mommy is… is… Just say that your mommy sent you there and that it's important. Say that you need to see your daddy and throw this in the water, ok?"

The woman pulled a bleached sand dollar out of her pocket and carefully put it in the boy's front pocket.

"But mommy, what about you? Don't you want to come with me? Am I really gonna meet daddy for real?"

The woman tried to smile through the tears. "Of course I want to come with you darling. And yeah, I would love to introduce you to your daddy. But you need to go. Tell me what I told you to do."

Perseus frowned, before slowly repeating the instructions that his mother had given him. "But mama, I don't want to leave you! You need to come with me!"

The woman shook her head. "I can't sweetie. I have to make sure you get there. I need you to run, and I need to make sure you're safe. If I go with you, you won't be safe. Please Percy."

Perseus started to cry. A roar, closer than ever sounded, and the kid broke into hysterics. The woman pulled him close, whispering a lullaby, looking as though she never wanted to let the boy go. After a few seconds, she pulled away, pulling up the boys chin.

"No more crying ok. You're my brave boy, my little hero. Do you know why I named you Perseus?" The boy shook his head. "Because Perseus was a hero who had a happy ending. And that's what you're going to have Percy. You're going to be the best hero ever, you're going to make me proud, and you're going to have a happy ending. And do you know how heroes act? They're brave, and loyal, they're strong and they care for others, they do the best they can, and so much more. And right now I need you to be brave Percy. I need you to run."

Perseus stared into his mother's eyes for a long moment, still teary eyed, before nodding his head.

"I love you mommy." He said, throwing his arms around her.

The woman laughed, her whole body trembling as she held the boy tightly. "I love you too baby. I love you so, so much. Never forget that. I'll always be with you, no matter what." Ground shaking footsteps approached, and the woman quickly stood up.

"Go now!" She ordered. Perseus hesitated, eyes uncertain, before his mother repeated the order and the boy ran off down the alley. The woman watched her son run away, before turning back to the alley, putting on a brave face, anger and determination seeping out of her. She raced towards the front of the alley, emerging at the mouth of and waving her arms shouting "Hey! Come and get me!"

With that she whirled around, sprinting down the street. Seconds later a huge horned blur raced by, quickly gaining. I heard the woman still shouting, and then fast footfalls behind me. I turned back to see the young Perseus running as fast as his little legs could carry him, running back to his mother, face a mask of determination and courage.

I couldn't help but follow him, morbid curiosity making me want to know what was happening. I still had no clue what was going on or how I was in the past seeing this, but I might as well figure it out as I went. Up ahead I saw Perseus chasing whatever monster was chasing his mother into an alley, followed by a loud, piercing scream. I got there at the same time was Perseus, watching as the beast stood over the now still body of Perseus' mother, roaring with rage. A bulls head with gruesome, curving horns, a thick chest and arms, huge hands, all covered in dark brown fur, a brown tail angrily flicking back and forth stomping huge black hooves into the ground, cracking the cement. The Minotaur.

"Mom!" Perseus cried out, eyes staring horrified at his mother's still form. The Minotaur turned around, a ring in its nose flaring as it sniffed the air, what could be called a smile coming to its freakish lips as it zeroed in on the boy. I honestly couldn't believe it when the kid gave an angry cry, charging forward recklessly. The Minotaur did the same, horns lowered, charging at breakneck speed. Perseus somehow managed to duck under the beast, almost getting squished by its great hooves, and racing towards his mother.

The Minotaur screeched to a halt, stumbling into a wall, earning a small boom as it collided, cracking the bricks. Perseus was still hunched over his mother when the monster charged again. Perseus pushed his mother out of the way and then threw himself to the side, a fierce look on his face.

"I'm not scared of you!" He shouted, standing defiantly as the Minotaur collided with another wall. This time the beast was smart. When Perseus ducked to the side, one of the monsters flailing arms caught him, throwing him into the wall ahead of it. He hit the wall, pushing himself up with a cry of pain, falling down as the monster reached him, its horns stabbing into the wall where the kid had been standing.

I swear, this kid had more pure luck than anyone I had ever met. The Minotaur made a great effort to get itself out, only to snap one of its horns off in the process. The horn hung loosely in the wall, before falling to the ground beside Perseus. Perseus stared at it as the Minotaur gave a truly furious roar and came at him. This time the boy was ready. He grabbed the torn off horn, bracing himself against the wall, and waited. Second before impact, he did the stupidest thing I had ever seen.

He pushed himself away, keeping the horn high above his head as the beast came less than a foot away, before letting go, diving out of the way. The Minotaur impaled itself on its own horn, and reeled backwards, clutching at its heart, where the horn was currently dug in, only the very end of it still visible. A second late, the beast vanished in an explosion of golden dust, the broken horn falling to the ground. Perseus stared at it, breathing hard. He had a long scrape across his forehead, and bruises were already starting to appear on his pale skin, but he looked just fine. He scooped up the horn, studying it with a puzzled expression, before looking around warily. His eyes suddenly found his mom again, and he dropped the horn, diving towards her.

"Mommy it's ok now, there's no more monster." His mother didn't respond. I didn't need to be a son of Hades to know why. I looked away as the young Perseus looked uncomprehendingly at his mother, and worried, confused look straining his face.

"Mommy its ok, you can wake up now."

I turned away as realization started to sink in.

"Mommy come on, wake up! Wake up mommy! Mama!"

"Whatever this is make it stop." I whispered.

I closed my eyes as I heard Perseus scream, a frightened, pathetic scream, full of innocence and pain, blotting out the sound of the rain and thunder. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the floor in my lair. Mrs. O'Leary was curled around me, her warm fur good against my perfectly dry clothes. I jumped up, whipping around, making sure I was back wehre I was supposed to be. Mrs. O'Leary gave me a worried look, and I patted her head.

"I'm fine. I'm not going crazy. It's just demigod stuff. It's ok." I whispered. Although the more I thought about it, the more unsure I was as to who I was trying to convince; Mrs. O'Leary, or me.

**Ψ-X-x-X-x-ψ-Ω-ψ-x-X-x-X**-**Ψ**

Kronos POV

Location-** Odyssey Cove, Mt. Othrys**

**19 **days, **23** hours,** 47 **minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

I felt the instant when two stars fell from the sky that something was wrong. Whispers of newcomers in town should have been the tipoff, but I had been to blind, to shortsighted with my plan to pay attention. In my arrogance, Midas and Hazel had been lost to me. I had felt the moment the bond between them was broken, and everyone had felt the explosion as Midas was sent to Tartarus, his power drained, his bond broken. Oh well. The weakest link was gone. But still, that someone could break a link of power…

To do that someone would have to have considerable knowledge on the creation and theory of such links, something only five other beings possessed. Four of them were Telekhines, the fifth was a demigod. I smiled as the realization hit me. So my dearly beloved Perseus Jackson, my most loyal soldier had returned to raise some Cain? I watched as he and another crawled out of the rubble of the usurped king's prior home, a blonde boy. Luke Castellan, stealer of the god weapons, and the self-proclaimed 'King of Thieves'.

Both had been taken by the gods, they were both Fallen now. I couldn't help but smile. So this was the gods attempt to stop me? A Moirai Trial? Oh this would be fun. In my mind's eye I saw everything; I witnessed the meeting of the gods, the Oracle's prophecy, the brining of two champions for the trial. I laughed as I heard the info that the gods had, the few cards they had in their hand they could play. They were missing one very important detail from everything, one crucial piece of information that would send everything spinning out of control.

This Moirai Trial would never be completed. And at the end, I would have my greatest warrior back at my side, my treacherous children would fall, and I would finally bring a new golden age of the titans. But first it was time to send a message. A small token, a greeting to my favorite demigod and his companion.

"Empousa!"

One of the fiery haired vixens bowed beside my throne, staring up at me with adoring, submissive red eyes. "Yes my Lord?"

"The Titans Wrath has returned, as has the King of Thieves. Their dearest friends would love to have a reunion; make it so." Nodding fervently, the wench ran from his presence, metal leg clanging loudly. I sat back on my throne, bringing up a golden image of Perseus.

"Soon." I whispered smiling.

* * *

**I feel really good about this one, a little sad. If you have no idea what's going on at this point, then you'll fit right in, but I truly hope you enjoy, so please read, review, comment, critique, anything! And yeah, i realize that Nico seems a little dark and one tracked than he's usually protrayed with, but that's just he point he's at with this moment, we still have a whole lot of story to go through and he becomes much more 3-dimensional. Anyways, hope you enjoyed, arrivederci!**


	9. The (Not) So Subtle Art of Interrogation

**I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians**

* * *

**The (Not So) Subtle Art of Interrogation**

Luke POV

Location- **Odyssey Cove, The Shoebox**

**19** days, **17** hours, **56** minutes until Kronos Rises to Power

"Oh my gosh, Hazel I love you!" Percy exclaimed, charging out towards the kitchen. Hazel giggled, glancing back and motioning me forward. Percy and I had finally stumbled back home late last night almost early this morning, before collapsing onto our beds, bone dead. Sure we had only fought one guy last night, but while our bodies were held perfectly in stasis, our minds were not.

I still couldn't believe how much effort it had actually taken to get the old man to kick the bucked, it was ridiculous. I hadn't felt this tired since I took on a whole platoon of Dracanae single-handed. And so, waking up to the smell of eggs, has browns, bacon, and French toast had been a very welcome surprise. Hazel had come in, smiling and saying that her 'heroes' deserved a victory breakfast.

"I felt different yesterday" Hazel confessed as we made our way out "I felt like I had was full of lead, always sinking down. But now? This morning I woke up and it's like everything's shiny and new, everything that's been holding me down doesn't matter anymore, because I have you guys. And for the first time in forever I feel… I feel free. I feel safe. Thank you."

I tried to throw on my regular façade, but it fell short. Her heroes? Us? The manipulative, silver tongued master thief, and the psychopathic sociopath traitor with a blue obsession? I wanted to call her out on it, but the bright glow in those golden eyes of hers crushed any thought of it.

"Percy! Save some for us!" Hazel complained, heading for the counter.

Percy had piled up his plate with heaps of hash browns, stacks of eggs, handfuls of bacon, and seven pieces of French toast, drowned in thick deep blue blueberry syrup. He looked up guiltily as Hazel came around, looking like a kid caught stealing from the cookie jar. I rolled my eyes, quickly going after what was left of our victory breakfast. I had just picked up a plastic fork when Percy let out a gasp, plate falling to the ground and grabbing at the counter for support.

"Percy! What's-"

I never finished, a sudden gut wrenching twist sending me reeling, an echoing hissing filling my ears. My scar burned with poison, just like it had when my monster so graciously gave it to me. For a split second, multiple pairs of yellow, snake-like eyes flashed in my head, all looking directly at me.

Hazel was rushing back and forth trying to find a way to help, but I ignored her looking over at Percy. Our gazes locked, a grim understanding traveling between us. Our Banes were coming. Our wonderfully short time of anonymity here was over. This was the only warning we were going to get. Hazel's voice finally cut through, full of concern and fear.

"What's happening? Guys!"

Percy was the first to snap out of it. "Nothing we can worry about right now. Bigger fish to fry." He may have been talking to Hazel, but the message was directed at me.

"But what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, and it can only happen once. Just some old friends promising to visit us. Soon. I'll explain later."

Hazel frowned, clearly wanting to pursue the matter, but sighed and gave in. Percy started cleaning up his lost meal and Hazel started dishing up. I just leaned against the counter, flipping my fork over my hand, lost in thought. Things had been relatively easy so far, no monster attacks, just recon. The only actual threat we had encountered had been Midas.

But that explosion last night put our cards on the table, the enemy knew what we were up to. Our Banes hadn't responded when we first landed. And now they were coming, along with every defense Kronos could throw at us. Percy finished wiping up the floor, grabbing chairs for the three of us.

Alright, so Greed's gone, that still leaves six more sins, six demigods, and six very angry uglies to take care of." Percy went through the facts as he dished himself up a more minute meal. "We'll head out to the club while the Siren's taking her break, try and figure out who we get to next."

"How long do you have?"

"A little under three weeks. And you were one of the easy ones" I replied, before turning back to Percy "Speaking of which, you said Haze's bond just got made, but he already had some of her powers. Are the next going to be just as fun?"

Percy shrugged. "Yep. It's going to be all kinds of fun."

Hazel's eyes widened eagerly. "Wait so he had my powers? What could he do, what can I do?"

"Well you'd make a fantastic metal detector" I said, earning a smirk from Percy. "Nah, it looks like you've got mineral/metal manipulation or something, the old guy was throwing them around like it was nothing."

Faster than I could see, Hazel pulled off one of her golden earrings, throwing it down on the table and staring at it intently. Percy and I exchanged an amused glances before sitting back and enjoying the look on her face. Man I wish I had a camera, her eyes were bugging out of her head as she stared at the hearing, trying to get it to move.

_Should I tell her_? Percy tapped. I looked back fondly at Hazel, before shaking my head tapping back _Just a bit longer_. Hazel's cheeks puffed up, holding her breath with the effort. I could practically feel her willing it to move with all her might; that or she was trying to lay a very, very large egg.

Finally Hazel let out a huge breath, sagging backward. I tried to play nice and say great job, but in the end, all that came out was a stream of uncontrollable laughter. Hazel frowned angrily across the table at me while Percy tried to stifle a smile.

"Haze, it takes a long time before you can actually use your powers when you want to. You only just found out about them, give it a little time. Right now, I think the only thing that'll activate them is a really strong emotion. Besides, there's a lot of cool stuff about being a demigod apart from the superpowers."

"But the power are the best part." I remarked, earning a disapproving look from Percy, his look very clearly stating that I wasn't helping the problem.

"But what about Midas? You said my bond, link thing only happened a little while ago, doesn't that mean I should be able to as well?"

"Midas is a couple hundred years older than you Haze, he has a few tricks when it comes to power. But who knows, once I found out about my powers I had them up and working in less than a week."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that! Didn't you blow up a bathroom or something?"  
Percy blushed while Hazel let out a guffaw of laughter.

"Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I remember it was before I met him. Oh my gosh, you know those jokes where they have the priest, rabbi, and minister walk into a bar? So a stripper, a herd of carnivorous sheep, a sphinx, and Percy walk into a bathroom, and-" Percy kicked me underneath the table, his blush painting his cheeks bright red with blue tints.

"The point of the story" He said quickly, glaring daggers over at me "Is that you can get your powers anytime, all you have to do is believe in yourself and keep trying, ok?"

Hazel nodded, before leaning over to me and whispering "Tell me the rest of the story later?" "Absolutely." I whispered back, winking at Percy.  
Percy face palmed as Hazel and I laughed. "So you guys were fighting last night; can you teach me?" Business mode snapped in, a blunt 'no' instantly coming to my lips. But it was too late, and Hazel hadn't been asking me.

"Sure, we'll start right after breakfast." Percy smiled supportively "You'll be the new Hero of Olympus in no time."

Hazel beamed happily and I frowned, starting to flip my fork again. Like I had said, we barely had three weeks to defeat the sins, save the demigods, and beat the all-powerful king of the titans. It had taken the gods ages to defeat their father and his allies, and we didn't even have a quarter of their powers. We just did not have time to waste training a rookie who probably wasn't even going to be combat ready for months.

I squeezed the fork, wanting to snap the feeble plastic to get rid of all list pent up angst, but it didn't snap. In fact, its cool metallic surface didn't even bend. Wait, what? I snapped my eyes down, staring in shock at my now golden fork. "What the hell…" I dropped the fork in, fear rushing through me as the memory of being turned to gold came back to me.

Was Midas getting his revenge on me from beyond the grave? My fingers brushed past my breakfast plate, and I watched in shock and confusion as the plate suddenly took on a golden tone. "What the hell!" I said, pushing away from the table.

"Huh, guess I was right."

I glanced up at Percy in confusion. He and Hazel were studying me; well more specifically my fork and plate.

"Right about what? Did Midas curse me or something?!"  
Percy shook his head, hesitated, then nodded. "Back when I was… um…" He glanced over at Hazel, obviously uncomfortable about telling his new playmate about his colorful past "Back when they were making the links and the possibility of destroying them, I asked what would happen if they were broken, because if they were damaged, all that power going between the victims had to go somewhere. Power has to have a home, and so it goes to whoever broke the link, because it's not connected to either victim after its been severed. I wasn't sure though, so I thought I'd just wait and see."

"Wait and see? We definitely would have seen when I gave Hazel a high five or if I'd have pet a dog! Come on over here and let's find out if your right, how about a hug for your old buddy?"

I didn't need to be this angry with him, but this could've been very bad. "That's not going to happen. You've had the power since last night, the only reason it even came out is probably because you were acting all moody and brooding. Touch the table."

I hesitantly did as he asked. Nothing happened.

"Looks like you have Midas' gift without the downside. See, it's just like any other power, you just have to wait to get it under control. In the meantime though, just in case, I'd wear gloves if I were you."

I nodded mutely staring at my hands. I was going to be the richest man alive! Who needs to steal gold or jewels when you can make an instant fortune? And I didn't even have the icky downsides of it.

"Wait, so does that mean he has my powers too?" Hazel exclaimed in dismay. Percy shrugged his shoulders and I smiled in a daze. A master thief who could manipulate riches, rocks, and turn things to gold. Ho yes, this was going to be a whole bunch of fun. I glanced at Hazel's lone earring, only for Hazel to catch my eye.  
She gave me a coy smile, before pushing it in my direction invitingly. I studied it for a second, before shaking my head. No use humiliating myself if I failed. I'd show them my awesome power once I got them under control. In the meantime though, Percy was right. I needed some gloves.  
"So" The devil himself said, green eyes flashing happily as he munched on a piece of bacon "Who's ready for training?"

* * *

I admit I had had my doubts about Hazel and her ability, but to my surprise, she had actually done pretty well for a newbie, not that I'd ever tell her. Once inside our cozy little armory/training arena courtesy of Hades (I mean Pluto. Stupid Roman thing. The whole debacle still made no sense), she had gone for an Imperial Gold (Percy confirmed this to be yet another 'Roman' thing) spatha and despite its length, was actually doing quite well as Percy helped her with the basics.

Things didn't come as easily as they should have, her whole style seemed to rely on fighting in a group, definitively proving that she wasn't a Greek. We were solo fighters, independent killing machines who could unite, who were unpredictable strong, and tactical all at once, an extremely dangerous combination.  
As the hours wore on, I realized that while she had definite potential, it was obvious that a "capable" fighter would be all she could ever be. We Greeks could only teach those wannabe Romans so much. Hazel finally walked out of our makeshift arena, hair a tangled mane of curls, drenched in sweat, but eyes still glowing and excited.

"We just have to find your niche," Percy explained, patting her on the back. True to form, Percy didn't even look tired. Then again, the constant sparring and teaching wasn't even a pre-warmup to demigods like us. Hazel was breathing hard as Percy sent her out, telling her to fuel up and rest before going to work putting things back in order. I stared down at my gloved hands for a second, the idea of gold running in my head.

"I think that's it." Percy declared, capping Riptide and wiping his palms clean. "She's definitely got potential. I want to get her with some of the other Romans, or maybe put her on a horse. What do you think?"

I shrugged, watching the dull appearance of Percy's pen, wondering if Hazel would ever be like that one day. Transforming from something dull and ordinary into something extraordinary. Percy had never gone through that stage. He had always been extraordinary.

A memory from lost night snuck back to me, and I asked Percy "Last night, Riptide didn't turn to gold when Midas touched it, but my sword did? Why was that? And what's the deal with him calling it an Alpha Blade? The Guardians did the same thing?"

"Oh that? I keep remembering you were in with the Fallen for a long time before I was. You seriously don't know about the levels?"  
I shook my head.  
"Well apparently the gods, namely Hephaestus, has always classified they strength of the weapons that he creates and that other created. It only counts for non-godweapons, it tells them how dangerous we are. Hephaestus named off four levels; Alpha, Beta, Chi, and Omega. Omega is the majority, it's basically every single weapon on earth you're going to find. They break, the rust, they can be changed like yours was, they're average. Next is Chi, they're cursed. All Stygian Iron objects are Chi, and basically anything that comes with a price towards the user is considered a Chi. Next is Beta, which is enchanted. That means its stuff like Riptide, where it can change shape, or have other cool abilities."

"Okay. But they called Riptide an Alpha, not a Beta."

Percy nodded. "Riptide is ancient. And I'm not the first hero to use it. It's been passed from hand to hand, it's killed thousands, maybe even millions of monsters. Weapons like Riptide build up power through that time, taking bits and pieces of monsters, until they become basically the demigod equivalent to a godweapon. They may not be as powerful as god's tools, but they still pack a punch. Riptides indestructible, and it's always sharp. Just by holding it I get a huge boost physically, and since it has a connection to the sea, my powers get boosted to. It has other cool abilities too, but the point is that it's at the top of the scale."

Hazel walked back in looking fresh and energized again already.

"So, we ready to get going?" She asked, practically bouncing in place.

"You were just struggling to pick yourself up off the floor, how the hell are you already back and hopping?" I asked, staring at her.

She just shrugged saying "It's like I told you this morning, I feel lighter, and everything's just, just fantastic!"

Her strength's been being sapped for months, Percy tapped, after all sleeping last night, its back where it's supposed to be. I nodded and grabbed my knife, strapping it to my side.

"Alrighty then, come on losers, we got places to be, people to kill." Well, monsters, but he, who really cared? After a quick jog around town, we got back to the club. Percy tilted his head to the side, looking confused as he stared at the building, the music pumping loudly, sweet music coming out of the now open door.

"What's wrong Perce?" Hazel asked, slowing to a stop.

"The bands still playing." Hazel and I gave him perplexed looks.

"The band, it always takes breaks remember? Always at four and five. Its four thirty, and they're still going."

Hazel still looked confused. "Ok, but what does that mean?"

I answered for Percy advancing towards the open door. "It means Kronos is upping his game. No more lucky strikes. Everybody in there is either high on siren son or waiting for us to arrive." I was right. The club was in full swing, the siren's music pushing the club into a greater crazy than usual. The staff and band members had vanished, replaced with a monstrous crew.

Disfigured satyrs, Harpy waitresses, and a three chested cook, Geryon, awaited us as we walked in. Too looming, hairy figures glared down at us as we passed them, growls ripping out of their throats as they bared great fangs. Hazel seemed to shrink another foot as we walked by, looking at the club with wide eyes.

"What were those?" She asked, struggling to keep up.

"Agrius and Oreius. I conned them into working for me a few years back, they're even dumber than Jackson, don't make eye contact."  
Hazel quickly averted her gaze following after me. We stopped at the bar, Percy surveying the bar with a quirky smile.

"You know, I'm actually a little insulted. I thought I was at least worth an angry mob, and so far it's as though nothing's changed."

I nodded, scanning the area. Percy was right; not only was it unsettling and worrisome, but it really was actually a little insulting. I mean, sure I didn't want to complain and ask to take on an angry titan or anything, but Percy and I could easily take out the creepy crawlies here in ten seconds flat tops. We didn't even know the rules and Kronos was changing the game.

"I'm gonna take a look around, do a little recon, you guys stay together." Percy walked off, vanishing into the crowd.

Hazel and I leaned back up against the bar, staring around the party. Hazel hummed and bopped along with the music, her eyes following the chubby Asian kid and the dwarf on crack in one of the corner booths. The chubby kid was stuffing his face with food from a buffet in the corner, several empty plates already in front of him, while the imp was sitting across from him, lounged out across his side of the booth, sound asleep.

She watched them with an almost dreamy look, despite the vacuum power and slop that was currently coming from him as one devoured the food and the other snored time away.

"So, Frank and Leo huh?"

Hazel nodded happily, before catching herself and giving me a cautious look. I gave her a wink and she sighed, letting the smile come back. "Yeah. Frank and Leo."

"How long?"

Hazel shrugged. "Frank moved here with his mother and grandmother a few years back. I guess I've liked him since the day I met him. But I only really started liking Leo a while ago. They're just… they're just the bee's knees!" I smirked, glancing back at the kid.

"Good luck. I'm sure when you help save they're butt they'll definitely notice you."

Hazel beamed, before asking "How about you and Percy?"

I froze, giving her a sideways look. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, I mean, the way you acted, I thought maybe you two…"

I shook my head. "A long time ago. Not anymore. We made sure that wouldn't happen again."

"What happened? Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, never mind."

Bullshit. Polite as she tried to act, all she wanted was answers. She was barely even trying to hide the fact. We stood there in an awkward silence for a long time, before I sighed.

"Percy and I are complicated, at best. Feelings we had for were just another way we could manipulate each other. In the end, I had a choice between the good life and him, and I chose the good life. Of course both got screwed up, but that's beside the point."

"You didn't chose Percy?"

"I grew up like you Hazel. Poor as dirt, a screw loose mother, and a dad who was never there and didn't want to bet there. And so when I got offered a golden ticket like you, I did exactly what you did. I didn't even think about what could go wrong, what would happen later, and I didn't care. It didn't matter. In the end Percy didn't matter more to me than the money, end of story."

Hazel stayed quiet for a long time, staring at Frank from across the room. I could see the gears turning in her head, wondering if she would have done the same thing to Frank if she had been in my shoes. And the answer scared her.

"So you were like me. But now I have you guys, and we're going to fix everything. What about Percy though? What's his story?"

"That's a very, very long story, most of which I don't know anymore. The short version? His mother got killed in front of him, he was homeless for years till I found him, I screwed him and his life up the second I got the chance, he made some very, very bad decisions, and ended up in the same prison as me, and now we're here."

"Wait, you guys ended up in prison?"

I gave Hazel an amused look. "What did Percy tell you about the two of us?"

"A lot of stuff."

"Obviously not. What did he tell you about the mission?"

"That the gods had sent you to stop Kronos and save us and the world. Isn't that right?"  
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm the ultimate thief and Percy's a turncoat murderer. We got put in the most god's prison for demigods, and this is our way of doing 'community service'. And saving the world and all of you is just an added bonus, the gods only care about saving their precious skins from daddy."

Hazel stared at me, face a whirlwind of emotions; hurt, hopelessness, fear, anger, and confusion.

"But… but Percy said the gods cared about us, that they might not talk to us, but they're always still there, trying."

I gave an indignant snort. "Talk about hypocrites. Percy knows better than most people that the gods don't care about us."

Hazel stayed quiet for a long time, before shaking her head. "I don't believe you. You and Percy aren't like that, and I think Percy's right. And it doesn't matter why you're here, it only matters that you are here, and that you're trying to save us. You know I didn't think I'd hear you say something like that. Percy's been helping me out a lot, and all he can say is that you were a great friend and helped him out a lot. And I don't think that… that…"

Hazel trailed off, and I suddenly realized that she was humming along to the music, eyes lost and dazed. So much for that argument. Thank you sweet siren song. A cheer went off from over by the poker table, and Hazel's eyes fixed on it, the hunger returning to her eyes again. Oh no.

I grabbed Hazel and shook her roughly. "Hazel, snap out of it." The mist behind her eyes cleared up a little, but then she tried to squirm away.

"Just one quick game, I'll be right back, I promise!"

I slapped her, and she fell back startled, anger replacing the mist instantly.

"What the hell!"

"Oh good you're back to normal."

Hazel looked confused for a split second before the memory of what she had just said came back to her. "What just happened?"

"Siren song, she's trying to pull you back under, keep you sedated. You have to stay focused and just be glad she isn't directed solely at you, otherwise that slap wouldn't have done anything."

"How can I stay focused?" I just shrugged.

"It's different for everyone. Percy's immune, so he never has to worry about things like this. Siren's song convinces you to think about everything good, all the things you love, and it takes away your pain. You want my advice? Bring up the most horrible, heartbreaking memory you've got and focus on it."

"Is that healthy? I mean, don't doctors tell you that you shouldn't try and focus on stuff like that for too long?"  
I just gave a shrug. "Most doctors also tell you that if you see monsters and talk to gods you're crazy, so what do they know anyways?" Percy suddenly reappeared, flowing out of the crowd with ease and taking a seat beside Hazel.

"Alright, so twenty seven monsters altogether, not counting the siren. I think our best next target is going to be Piper, most of the Empousa around her are busy grinding up against the other dancers right now, we can go in and get her before they even realize she's gone."  
Before we had a chance to respond, the blonde boy, Jason, slid into the spot beside Percy, self-confident, sexy grin on his face.

"Hey there, I'm Jason. Jason Grace." He said, extending his arm.  
Percy smiled back, shaking his hand. "Percy Jackson."

"Percy Jackson." Jason said, testing the name out a few times. "Well Percy, believe me it's a pleasure to meet you. You new in town?"  
Percy shot us a look, before saying "Just passing through. We're leaving at the end of the month."  
Jason gave a sad sigh. "Well that's a shame. It's pretty nice down here, it'd be great to have somebody like you here to liven things up. Hey, maybe I could show you around one of these days. The place might not look it, but there's some pretty good sights around here. Course they can't compare to what I'm looking at right now, but that's beside the point."

I hated the spark that came when Percy had the nerve to blush and laugh. I wasn't angry that he wasn't hooked on me anymore, or giving me such mixed signals. No, I was angry that he was falling for the lame tricks of this idiot.

"But no seriously, do you mind if I get a picture of us? I don't think my friends will believe me if I tell them I saw an angel."  
Percy rolled his eyes, but the blush was still there. I cleared my throat, quickly standing up and forcing Hazel and Percy up.

"Great chatting with you Jacob." I said, propelling them away.

Jason gave me a death glare, electric eyes sparking dangerously.

"It's Jason."

Percy glanced back at me in warning and Jason's smile instantly came back.

"Nice meeting you Percy. Catch you later?"

Percy nodded and smiled back.

"Hazel, go check on Piper." I ordered, pushing her away and forcing Percy to an empty corner.

"What's your problem? We're not here to flirt!" I spat out angrily.

Percy rolled his eyes. "I know that idiot. You get friends by being nice, if I play along he might be easier to work with and save."

"That wasn't trying to get a friend that was trying to get yourself fucked, start thinking with your head, not your crotch Jackson."  
Percy frowned, pushing me away. "You're one to talk. Neither of us would be here in this mess if you followed your own advice."

"Oh come on, how is this my fault?"

"Let's see, you turned yourself into a pedo and manipulated a mentally broken kid into relying on you and then betrayed him, getting yourself thrown into prison, and sending the entire mythological world after the already crazy kid, pushing him right into the arms of a psychopath titan king of manipulation and murder who made him do things he can't even begin to describe, before he finally got so fed up that he asked his own dad to kill him so he could get away from it all, and finally end up with that same douchebag who screwed his life up again to try and save the world from that same titan! That is how it's all your fault!" Percy was breathing hard, face red, fists clenched.

We glared back and forth, and I was opening my mouth to retort when Hazel came back.

"I think Pipers…"  
She trailed off as she looked between us, realizing she had interrupted our argument. Percy took a deep breath, before saying "Let's just go get her before anything happens, ok?"

After a few moments, we all started walking over to the center of the room where Piper was currently making out with a blue haired nymph, all the while getting groped by a hungry looking satyr.

"No Empous- Empuse- I mean, Empousa around!" Hazel said.

"Alright, Hazel, you're our way out, clear a path for us. Luke, you take care of the nymph and the satyr, I'll grab her and we'll get out of here as fast as we can!"  
We started walking, Hazel hanging back, ready to push away the crowd, while I readied myself to get rid of Piper's unwanted entourage. We were almost here when I ran into a drop dead gorgeous girl with long brown hair and red eyes. She grabbed my arms, whispering "Wanna dance hot shot?"

She looked up, only for the two of us two freeze.

"Kelli!"

"Luke!" She spat.

The Empousa queen herself took a step back, hair turning to flames, eyes glowing brightly, metal and donkey leg forming instantly, nails sharpening to points. Scattered around the crowd, other Empousa suddenly flared into existence, all hissing and looking straight at us. Percy and Hazel came up behind me, the three of us standing back to back, sizing up our enemies.

"You know her?" Hazel asked.

Kelli smiled brightly. "Oh where are my manners? I'm Kelli, nice to meet you. And yes, this sexy hunk of demigod knows me alright. You know, I'm hurt Luke. Didn't you want to tell your darling little friends about me?"

I flashed a cocky smile. "Kelli, meet the gang. Gang, meet Kelli, my girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend. Wasn't that great in the sack, really screwed up the relationship."  
Kelli's fangs ripped out, eyes burning red. Something came at Hazel and Percy moved in to block them, only for something to come colliding into me from behind. I came crashing to the floor at Kelli's feet, staring up at her as she smiled cruelly down.

She kneeled down beside me, gently lifting up my face. "How about one more kiss, just for old times' sake?"  
And then she leaned down, fangs ripping into my flesh, tongue lashing out at mine. I flailed around, kicking at her, only for her to twist around, straddling my chest and sitting on my arms, her celestial bronze and donkey leg cutting off circulation as she went to work, grinding u against me. Blood and energy rushed through me, as Kelli slowly started draining me.

Death by a hot as hell kiss? Well, at least it wasn't the worst death I'd ever thought up. Kelli ground up against me again, physical feeling increased by a bazillion as she drained the life right out of me, pure pleasure rushing through as we touched. Oh yeah, this was definitely a good way to die.

* * *

**So the sword info will become important eventually, and the questions people are coming up with will be answered soon. Anyways, hoped you enjoyed, next chapter we're mixing things up with a new perspective, hope you enjoyed, please comment, question, review, critique, or just read, and if you liked this, check up some of my other works. Have a fantastic week everybody!**


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